Turmoil
by ev661
Summary: Rin is back in town, so is Makoto's neighbor Aiden. They're both drastically different and in need of direction. When Makoto asks Aiden to join the swim team and Rin asks her for a race, the past comes back to haunt them.
1. Chapter 1:Back

A/N:So this is the first fanfiction I've ever posted. I should mention I'm not a great writer. When I was writing this I wasn't exactly writing it with an audience in mind. So, praise and criticism is welcome, I'm not overly sensitive so go ahead and be honest. It is appreciated. I haven't read past the first part of chapter one in High Speed! so this is going to be based in the anime. Oh, and I don't own Free! and these characters are Ohji Kouji's creation. Except Aiden and her family, those are mine..

Chapter 1: Back

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Uhhhhhhhgggg," a girl groaned into her pillow. She rolled out of bed and crawled over to unplug the alarm. She stood and looked into the mirror, a girl with teal-gold flecked eyes and disheveled duel-toned brown hair stared back at her. Eyes flickered to the uniform hanging next to the mirror. A light brown skirt paired with a white shirt with a red bow, grey long-sleeved cardigan and a dark grey blazer. She glared at the red bow, and then her gaze trailed down to the green tie on her dresser.

"Tch, whatever," she muttered tossing the bow into the garbage bin. She went off to prepare herself for her first day at her new school, Iwatobi High School.

* * *

Her name was Aiden Ryuu Cole-Rojas, an odd name to have around this area. It was due to her being multiracial; she was Japanese-Salvadorian on her mother's side and Argentinian-American on her father's side. Although she herself held duel Canadian-Japanese citizenship. She had been born in Canada but moved to Japan when she was five.

Aiden was transferring into the high school in what she considered to be her hometown, Iwatobi. Opening ceremony had been several days ago and she wanted to put it off a few more days, but decided to go as it would be awkward enough starting this late after everyone had been acquainted with each other and settled down. The only thing she really had to look forward to was possibly seeing some of her childhood friends, though there weren't many.

After she showered and put on her uniform, opting out of the bow and leaving several buttons undone on her shirt, she grabbed her bag and tie and went out the front door. She hesitated for a moment, debating whether she should go or not. Deciding that it didn't really matter and she should just get on with it, she moved forward.

Aiden stood at 165cm she was busty with a thin waist and slender yet shapely hips, her body was all lean muscle, and her hair that reached the small of her back blowing in the wind as she walked down the path next to the ocean towards the school. She inhaled deep, she loved the smell of the ocean, the days weren't getting warm fast enough for her, she wanted to be submerged in that salty water she was so fond of. She stopped to sit on the steps that lined the path. She closed her eyes and felt the wind against her skin. She sat there for a few minutes before someone was calling out to her, "Ryuu-kun! Oi! Ryuu!" the person called as he got closer. She didn't respond.

"Ryuu-kun?" he said placing a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and turned to see the green eyes of her childhood friend. She hadn't responded to that name in a long time, she forgot to react to it.

"Aiden. It's Aiden," she sighed. Makoto frown, the boy next to him, Haruka, just stared blankly.

"Aiden-kun….what are you doing?" Makoto asked, just now taking in her appearance. She hopped up off the steps.

"Hey Mako-chan, Haru-chan," Haru gave an annoyed look, "I was just on my way to school."

Makoto looked overjoyed at this statement, "You're going to Iwatobi with us?!"

"Yeah, I just missed the first few days getting things arranged. I actually have to finish enrolling today, so they can put me in a class," Aiden explained starting to move forward towards the school, the boys followed.

"That's great! I was starting to think you moved away again, I hadn't seen you in a while. I was worried. Maybe they'll put you in our class, class 1," Makoto said with a sad smile on his face. He really did believe his friend had moved away. He was happy about her attending the same school as him but he knew all too well how quickly and easily that was taken away. Aiden gave him a small half-hearted smile.

"Yeah, I'm glad. Don't worry Mako, I not leaving this time," she said sincerely. He gave her a warm smile, he never seemed to run out of them. Haru just rolled his eyes. Aiden caught it and shot him a glare. Makoto went on to tell her about how they were starting a swim club, about Nagisa attending their school, about their new homeroom teacher, and plenty of other things. Aiden tried to be at least mildly responsive, she just didn't have the same enthusiasm he did. As he spoke she played with the green tie in her pocket. Every now and then she would glace over at Haru and he had the same blank bored face on. She felt slightly guilty, Makoto was a warm, social, caring person and here he was stuck with two unresponsive cold people. She sighed rather loudly. Makoto looked down at her with a questioning look. She just shook her head, waved it off and took out the tie and put it on loosely.

"Aiden-kun, aren't you supposed to wear a bow? The ties are for the boys," Makoto said.

"I didn't like it, I prefer green. Plus that thing makes me feel like a really really weak person is trying to strangle me," she said adjusting the tie.

Makoto giggled a little bit, and Haru raised an eyebrow, "Okay…as long as you are comfortable."

They had arrived at the school already and they were walking towards the main office, he wanted to make sure she got there without a problem. "Well this is the office, hope you have a good day. I'll wait for you in the front after school. Let me walk you home." He smiled brightly. Aiden managed to return a lopsided smile and a quiet "thanks" and "okay" before going into the office leaving the boys in the hallway. Makoto couldn't wipe the grin off his face, the joy he felt was threatening to overwhelm him. He had really missed her. Haru looked up to his green-eyed friend, and couldn't recall the last time he saw him that happy or smile that wide, and his friend smiled a lot.

"She's back. You're happy," Haru said blandly.

"That's right," Makoto beamed, "Come on let's go to class. Maybe we'll be lucky and she'll be placed in our class."

"You mean you'll be lucky….." Haru muttered. Makoto just brushed the statement off.

* * *

"Hello, my name is Aiden Ryuu Cole-Rojas. You can call me Aiden or Cole. I just transferred in from a school out-of-town, before that I attended a boarding school in Tokyo. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu." Aiden said in front of class 1. She hadn't been in the office for long, they had most of her paperwork done already, and they placed her in class 1 by chance. She was admittedly relieved she was in the same class as her childhood friend and she knew it would make him happy as well. The person processing her paperwork noticed the state of her uniform and commented but retracted her statement after the death glare she received.

She made her way to her seat which was behind Haruka, the class was full so they created a space for her at the very back next to the window. Makoto was beaming; he got to have her so close too. As she walked back she heard a couple of the students whispering among themselves and heard them refer to her as an "ainoko" the comments made her clench her fists and jaw in irritation. She should have been used to it by now. She was often called a mutt, a mestizo or ainoko, she got the term hāfu a lot which she didn't mind as much. She managed to give Makoto a weak smile and pat on the shoulder as she reached her seat. She tried to ignore Haru, as he did the same for her.

For the rest of class she mostly zoned out and stared out the window. She sketched and wrote small notes in her sketchbook to look busy when the instructor shot her threatening looks. Although she finally fell asleep and didn't wake up until Makoto gently shook her awake. Her sleepy eyes looked up at his brilliant green ones. As always he wore such a warming smile.

"Aiden-kun, it's time for lunch, you should join us," he said softly. Aiden straightened out and looked at Haru standing next to him looking really annoyed, he wasn't all that fond of her it would appear.

"Sure Mako-chan," she said grabbing her bag. She got up and followed them trailing slightly behind them. Makoto was making one-sided conversation with Haru, or so it would seem. The girl knew them well enough to know Mako could read Haru like a book, there wasn't really a need for words. A talent she wished he would have developed with her, sometimes talking was far too tasking. He led them to a pool, an empty pool. Haru immediately got to work on painting the inside walls of the pool, Mako grabbed a bucket of paint and headed towards the fence, both boys scarfed down their lunches, fried squid, and began their work. Aiden gravitated towards Mako.

"So do you like it Aiden-kun?" Makoto asked while painting the fence with a brush. The girl merely nodded in response. "Well you should have seen it before, it looked like a forest," he chuckled, "we've been working hard."

"Mmhm," Aiden said biting into a piece of bread. She looked around, the place definitely looked like it was coming along. She looked longingly into the empty pool.

"Ryuu-chan when it's ready you can go swimming too," Mako said smiling at her. Aiden tensed up and glared at the floor. "Mm" was all she could manage to say. The combination of using her middle name and the word 'swimming' in the same sentence set a disturbance within her. No longer wanting to deal with the discomfort she gathered her things and stood up to leave. She looked back at Makoto who gave her a small frown and a nod. This was interpreted as approval and she left the pool area towards the classroom to seek refuge from her feelings.

Makoto watched her walk away the frown on his face deepening. He didn't want to see her like that. He regretted using her other name, she made it clear that morning that she didn't want to hear it. He could guess that it had something to do with her mother. But he saw how she was looking at the pool with such longing, so distant. He had never told her but he had kept track of every race she was in when she was away at boarding school in Tokyo. He was amazed that she was that talented and wondered why she hid it from everyone. He had kept watch of her progress all the way through to nationals a year ago where she set tournament records, but she dropped out of all of her events in the last round. He never figured out why and he never brought it up to her, but he could tell she missed the water. He just wanted her to be happy, and he selfishly longed to see her in the water.

Makoto resumed his task, he wanted it to turn out perfect. There were lots of reason he wanted this club to work out, for Haru, for Rin, for the team, and now for Ryuu. He smiled to himself.

* * *

Afterschool Aiden joined Haru and Mako at the pool. They were the first to arrive, she took a seat on the beach and pulled out her sketchbook while Makoto and Haruka resumed the activities they started at lunch. She started sketching the scene in front of her. Not long after that a small blonde boy with pink eyes came in and loudly greeted the boys.

"Haru-chan! Mako-chan! And—" Nagisa yelled pausing at the girl at the bench, trying to figure out who it was, she looked very familiar. Makoto looked over and decided to intervene.

"Nagisa! You remember Aiden, my neighbor, from grade school?" Makoto said.

"Ryuu! Is that you?!" He squealed running over to lock her into a bone crushing embrace. "I didn't recognize you, you're a hottie now!" he said shamelessly. Aiden endured the unwanted physical contact and ignored the comment.

"It's Aiden or Cole, just Aiden or Cole," Aiden grunted out as he squeezed. He pulled away to look at her. "Hi Nagisa," she said forcing out a weak awkward smile.

"You're going here now?! That's great! We are starting a swim club, you should be our cheerleader," Nagisa teased. She rolled her eyes, and then a red-head came into the area with a bag. Aiden recognized her, she couldn't mistake those red eyes for anyone else; she was clearly a Matsuoka.

"Gou! You're here. Come here look who it is!" Nagisa shouted, and the red-head approached them.

"It's Kou! Not Gou! Kou!" Gou shouted at Nagisa flustered completely ignoring the brunette on the bench.

"Gou!" Nagisa yelled. "Kou!" Gou countered. "Gou!" "Kou!" "Gou!" "It's Kou! AHH! Damn you!" Gou yelled.

"Whatever, Gou this is Ryuu! Do you remember her?" Nagisa said rather excited. Gou looked at the brunette for a second and after a second recognition was clear in her eyes. Then there was a rather sad look on her face.

"Nagi I told you it is Aiden or Cole, respect that or I will physically drill it into your skull," Aiden threatened with a dark look in her eyes. Nagisa wasn't intimidated but could tell it was a sensitive subject, he was familiar with her past so he decided not to push.

"Okay _Aiden_-chan, you're so scary now. Anyways do you remember Gou?" Nagisa pointing at the red-head to exaggerate.

"Yes I do," Aiden said then turned to Gou, "Kou, it's nice to see you again, you're so big now."

Gou appreciated the fact she called her by her preferred name, "You look a little different yourself Aiden-senpai, it's been a long time…." she trailed off still with a distant sad look on her face.

"Mmhm, I guess," Aiden said returning to her sketchbook pretending to lose interest. By then Nagisa had run off to help Haru in the pool, Gou just look at Aiden. Her brother and Aiden had parted on bad terms, meaning her brother had taken off to Australia without so much as a goodbye or even telling her about it. That was shortly after the poor girl had found out her mother was dying. She wasn't sure what kind of relationship Aiden and Rin had but she knew that towards the end they got close. Now that her brother had come back he was different, very different, and it wasn't good. She wanted him to get back to his old self, that's what this club was all about. Now that Aiden was back she could tell she had changed too, and Gou didn't know if she liked it or not. It wasn't like they were great friends when they were little, in face there hardly interacted if not for her brother but they got along and she was fond of the girl. She had looked up to her, like an older sister.

Gou set aside her thoughts and went over to Makoto. She set the bag containing juice down next to him. They started having a conversation about why Makoto and Haruka didn't start a swimming club when they were first years and why Haru quit competitive swimming. Aiden felt inclined to listen in on the conversation. When they started talking about Rin and how he transferred to Samezuka academy Aiden almost felt her heart stop. _Rin is in Japan? _She then heard all about Rin and Haru's race, and Rin's issues with swimming and how much he has changed. And she couldn't help but think to herself, _at least I'm not the only one. _She wondered exactly how different he was now. Gou went on to volunteer as the manager of the club satisfying the need for a fourth member.

Aiden waited for the boys to finish, Gou had left a while after her talk with Makoto with no more words for Aiden. She couldn't blame Gou, honestly she was relieved. After they finished she walked home with the boys, once again trailing slightly behind them. When they came to the steep steps that led to Haruka's place they split, Haru went his way and Aiden followed Makoto. They walked side by side.

"Did you have a good day?" he asked her, looking down with a softened expression. She couldn't thank her friend enough, his warm expression warmed her frigid heart, if only the slightest.

"It wasn't bad. At least I got to be close to you and the others again," she said giving him the smallest smile. Makoto took it, it made him happy, no matter how small it was.

"I'm glad. I'm glad I have you so close every day. I'm lucky you got into our class and that you basically sit behind me. I really missed you, you know," Mako said seriously at the end.

"I was relieved when I found out. I was kind of tired of changing schools all the time and meeting new people. It's comforting to have someone so familiar right there for a change. I missed you too Mako, you can't even imagine," she said earnestly. Makoto smiled at this.

"I've barely seen you this year, I haven't seen you at all in so long I thought you had moved again, are you staying at the house now? Are you alone?" he asked concerned.

"I'm staying at the house, I'm alone right now but my dad comes by randomly, I think he is living in Tokyo or Chiba, I don't really know. I haven't been around lately because I was staying at the place in the next town over, commuting was getting annoying. I came back to stay a few weeks ago," she explained.

"Are you sure you are okay on your own? You could always come over, mom cooks, Ren and Ran would probably love to see you. If not I could come over…"Makoto said, getting a little shy.

"Makoto ever the mother hen," Aiden smirked, "I appreciate it, I do, but I'm fine. But if you feel the need to come over by all means invite yourself in."

"Yeah sure," Makoto smiled.

"So Haru still isn't fond of me, is he?" she asked.

"I don't think that's it, he's just uncomfortable, like he is with anything he doesn't understand," Mako said.

"Sure, if you say it is like that…." She trailed off as they arrived at her door step. She turned to Mako, "Thanks for being there today, I can always depend on you," she said quietly giving him a rare genuine smile.

Makoto's heart swelled, her smile was beautiful, and she glowed. He couldn't help himself, he instinctively wrapped his arms around the girl and rested his chin on top of her head. She froze for a second before wrapping her arms loosely around his waist. When they parted she looked sad again but quickly turned to the door so he wouldn't see her.

"Thanks again Mako-chan I'll see you tomorrow," she said softly as she walked in and shut the door behind her. Makoto stood outside, the warmth of her body still tingling on his, he felt bliss.

* * *

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it..give me feedback. What did you think of the last episode? A really hope they make a second season...


	2. Chapter 2: Rubble

A/N: This is shorter, do you prefer to read longer or shorter chapters? Let me know.

* * *

Chapter 2: Rubble

Makoto knocked on Aiden's door. He had come to see if she wanted to go with him to visit his old swimming club. His father had informed him at dinner that they had begun to tear it down. He was going to go see it one last time. The place held a lot of fond memories of his childhood, he was sure it was the same for Aiden, they had made memories there together. He thought it was only fitting to take her along with him, that, and he also hoped it might cheer her up or bring back a little of her old self.

He knocked once more and got no response. He checked the door, it was unlocked. _Well she did say it was okay to invite myself in…._ he thought. He opened the door and slipped his shoes off, the place was dark.

"Aiden-kun…..are you here? Aiden?" he called out slowly making his way around the first level. There was no response. "Aiden-kun, I came to see if you wanted to take a walk with me…Aiden-kun?" he called, now making his way up the stairs to her room. He pushed open the cracked door of her room, "Aide-" he started but choked on his words. Aiden was laying on her bed in nothing more but a black tank top and her matching underwear. Her head was hanging off the side of the bed, one of her legs raised with a foot resting on the dresser next to the bed. Makoto's mouth hung open and in that brief moment he took the image in; all the exposed skin, her long toned legs, her flat belly, the curves of her body to the lines of her jaw. He looked away and shielded his eyes. Aiden saw him come into her view upside down and was amused to see his reaction. She hadn't expected company, she would have worn clothes.

"Uhhh, sorry, Aiden-kun. I'll be outside. I didn't mean to walk in like that," Makoto sputtered, flushing. Aiden sat up quickly and threw a blanket over herself. She sat up too quickly and got very dizzy. "Ughh" she groaned rubbing her temples. Makoto turned to her, overly concerned.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" he asked, relieved she had covered up.

"Oh its nothing," she said still rubbing her temples, "I just sat up too fast, I don't think hanging upside down was a good idea either….." Makoto chuckled at that. "Hey so what's up? I'm sorry I didn't even hear you come in, I was zoning out really."

Makoto wanted ask why she was upside down and zoning out but let it go because she would probably brush it off anyways, "I knocked and called out to you a few times, I should've knocked on your bedroom door too, sorry for barging in like that."

"Shut up, it's fine, it's not like I was naked," she said rolling her eyes, he was a fragile one, "So what did you come find me for? Not that I mind the company…"

"I wanted to see if you would come on a walk with me, they are tearing down the old swim club so I wanted you to come with me to see it one last time. What do you say?" he asked hopefully with an ever-present smile on his face. Aiden looked gloomy, but she was seriously considering it. It would probably be painful to see but Mako seemed so eager to go. She didn't want to bring him down, she wanted to make him happy even if it was small, she was aware she couldn't do much for him. She looked him in the eyes, he was so expectant, like a puppy. She couldn't say no.

"Okay, let me get changed," she said quietly. Makoto tried to hide exactly how happy that made him and went to wait for her outside. Aiden quickly slipped on a pair of skinny jeans and put on a bra, a grey V-neck and over that she wore a black zip-up hoodie. At the door she put on her black basketball shoes and met Makoto outside. She ran her fingers through her hair to tame it a bit.

"That was quick," commented Makoto, he really liked how laid back she looked.

"I guess," she muttered and started walking down the street next to him. They were quiet for a while, just enjoying each other's company. Aiden didn't know they were tearing down the club, it made her sad. The place held a lot of memories both good and bad. A question was itching at her brain and she had to ask, "What about the time capsule?"

"Huh?" Makoto looked down at her surprised by the sudden question, "Oh, you mean the trophy from the relay?"

"Yeah."

"We dug it up already, it's at Haru's house," he said being as vague as possible, he didn't want to mention Rin, or how they came to acquire the trophy. The redhead had damaged her enough, if she heard about that night it might just disappoint her further.

"You're a terrible liar you know," she said. She shoved her hands in her pockets and spoke to the ground, "I know whatever you're trying to hide, you are doing it to shield me from hurt, or whatever it is you are trying to protect me from. But I'm certain it has to do with Rin. I heard you and Gou talking, about Rin and Haru and the reason you guys even started this club. I think it's fine, I'm glad you guys are trying to help him. It doesn't hurt me, I'm passed that. I have had bigger heartache since then, it pales in comparison. So you don't have to worry. But I do appreciate it." She didn't look up after speaking for what seemed to be the most she had in a long time.

"Aiden-kun…." he said sympathetically. He looked at her, eyes brimming with compassion and concern. His hand snaked its way into her pocket and interlaced his fingers with hers. She turned to him wide-eyed and tense. He smiled, "You don't have to say anything now, but when you're ready to talk I'm here to listen."

She scoffed and looked away, "Tch, Mako you're too sweet for your own good." After that she dropped the subject, she knew he was just looking out for her. It comforted her. They continued to walk in silence, their fingers still intertwined. It reminded her of when they were kids and he insisted on holding her hand as they crossed the street and he wouldn't let go afterwards 'just in case' anything happened. He had always been so protective of her, always concerned for her. It was in his nature. And she never understood why.

* * *

When they finally reached the old swimming club it was dark and the street lights were on, some of the construction lights on the site were illuminating the old worn building. As Makoto walked up to the site he seemed a little disbelieving and even a little hurt, like he couldn't believe it was actually being torn down. Aiden was next to him at a distance her expression unreadable. She simply observed the building, burning the image into her mind, she wished she had brought her sketchbook. The building itself was old and wearing out. The paint chipping, the painted figure of a dolphin faded, there were cracks in walls and the windows mostly broken and shattered. It was already half demolished, a yellow crane sat against the building waiting to carve into it once more. Piles of rubble littered the construction site as if they were like the ashes of their childhood memories.

"Hurts, right?"

Makoto turned to see who had snuck up on them. A blonde man with brown eyes hair parted to one side and shaved on the other with two earring on his left ear and a goatee. He was in pizza delivery garb and motorbike. He looked oddly familiar to Makoto but he couldn't place him. Aiden continued to study the building not bothering to turn and acknowledge the man.

"It's not easy to watch as your memories are destroyed. Were you part of this club?" the man continued. That statement stuck a chord with Aiden. 'It's not easy to watch as your memories are destroyed' it echoed in her mind. It was true. The place held so many memories. Some she didn't realize she was still clinging to. This is where her mother had taught her to swim properly. Where she had met her childhood friends. Where she watched Mako swim. Where she first met Rin. Where she swam in her first race. It had also been the site of where she received her first heartache. Where she had learned her mother had died. So many memories. And now it was all rubble.

"Coach Sasabe?!" Makoto exclaimed, this caused Aiden to turn around, and it was indeed Coach Sasabe, who was now apparently a pizza boy.

"Huh?" the older man cocked his head.

"It's Makoto!" Mako pointed at himself, "Tachibana Makoto!"

"Huh?" Sasabe was taken aback until he recognized him, "HAHAHA, You got real big Makoto!" He looked beyond the green-eyed boy to the girl standing behind him, "I see you even got yourself a girlfriend!"

Makoto blushed and looked uncomfortable, "Actually she not my girlfriend…" he trailed off. Aiden stepped forward so the older man could see her and she spoke up, "It's been a long time coach."

Sasabe took a good look at her before exclaiming, "Ryuu! Is that really you? You've really grown up!"

"It's Aiden. I guess we all have," she said nostalgically.

"Well I work as a pizza delivery man now. Did you guys come here for one last glimpse?" Sasabe asked.

"Is that why you're here?" Makoto asked. Aiden just listened in and turned back to study the building.

"I thought I'd drop by on my way back from a delivery. Are the other boys doing well?" Sasabe replied now fully engaging with Makoto.

"Yes. I go to the same school as Haru and Nagisa."

"Are you still friends with Rin?" Sasabe asked.

"Yes….he goes to a different school though," Makoto said sadly. Aiden's ears perked up.

"Rin's back from Australia, right? He looked pretty glum the last time I saw him, so I was a little worried," Sasabe said thinking back.

"Glum?" Makoto asked. _Glum?_ Aiden asked mentally.

"Haruka didn't mention it?" Sasabe said, Makoto's mouth slightly agape as he listened, "I think it was during the winter of the first year of middle school. I was closing down the place for the end of the year when Haruka and Rin showed up. Apparently, they ran into each other while Rin was back home."

"Did they have a race?" Makoto asked incredibly interested and concerned. Why didn't Haru tell him about this?

"That's right. And Haruka won easily. Rin was pretty upset about it. Can't blame him. He went to a swimming school abroad, and it didn't make a difference. Is something wrong?" Sasabe asked turning to Makoto. Aiden thought, _Is this why Rin has changed so much? He hasn't made progress? He still can't beat Haru? That still doesn't explain why he is pushing everyone else away, why he pushed me away…_

"No….." Makoto responded, _I see. So that's why Haru quit swimming competitively. It's because he hurt Rin, _Makoto thought. Aiden came to the same conclusion and she could understand Haru in a way, she had quit for different reasons but they were similar enough.

"I'm off. I have deliveries I still have to get to. Makoto. Ryu-I mean Aiden. See you around. Makoto take care of your girlfriend!" Sasabe said as he got on his bike and began to ride off.

"Hey! She's not my girlfri-" Makoto started but the coach had already driven off.

"Don't get so flustered Mako-chan," Aiden teased half-hearted. Makoto frowned at her. They both turned to look at the building one last time before they started to walk home. This time there was some distance between them.

"It's sad," Makoto said breaking the silence.

"Yeah, it is. But we aren't kids anymore. I wonder what they'll do with the space," she commented. Not that she cared, she just felt inclined to make conversation for some reason. With that in mind she brought up what the coach had said, "Do you think that race is why Haru stopped competing?"

"I'm sure it is, he hurt Rin, so he stopped," Makoto said with a sad tone.

"It probably has something to do with why Rin didn't join the swim team…."Aiden said thoughtfully, "I can't blame him…." Makoto looked at her with his signature overly concerned expression but didn't say anything.

* * *

Makoto stopped on the side of the road overlooking ocean he saw as a good point and took out his cellphone. Aiden patiently waited for whatever he was going to do while looking out longingly into the ocean.

"Rin? It's me, Makoto. We're starting up a swim club. So you should join the swim team. We might get to swim together at a tournament," Makoto said leaving a voicemail.

A sad sweet smile crept up on Aiden, still looking out at the ocean she quietly said, "Thank you Mako," it was barely audible. He turned to her and asked, "What was that?"

"It was nothing," she sighed, "I hope I get to see all of you swim together again, is all."

"Yeah, I would like that," Makoto said, "let's go home." They continue and Aiden felt a glimmer of hope and a dash of excitement.

That hope and excitement quickly dissipated as they walked up to her house. The lights were on inside and American classic rock could faintly be heard. Her whole body tensed up and Makoto put his hand on her shoulder to ease her tension. Her father was home. This generally was not welcomed. Usually nothing good came of his brief visits.

"Aiden-kun, you can stay with us if you want. My mom would love to have you. You don't have to go home if you don't want to," Makoto said earnestly, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. He was well aware of the types of things that happen when the man comes around and it infuriates him as much as it terrifies him.

"Thanks, really, thank you. But I'll be fine, I need to talk to him anyways. I just started school that's probably why he came. He'll want to see me, if I don't come home he will just go looking for me anyways. I don't want to cause you any trouble. Don't worry," she reassured her tall friend. He frowned but knew there was no point in arguing.

"If _anything_ happens, if you need _anything_ come over or call me," he emphasized.

"Of course, thank you," she said truly grateful.

"Goodnight Aiden," Makoto said frowning.

"G'night Mako." He wrapped his arms around her for a brief second before turning around and retreating to his own residence.

She braced herself and reached for the doorknob.

* * *

A/N: Next chapter in all about the OC, the rating will go up. I guess I'll mention it again, I mostly wrote this just to get it out. I didn't think I was going to let people read it, I'm not a very good writer. So thanks for reading, review and such.


	3. Chapter 3: Glass

A/N: This is rated M. There is drugs and violence. So if those are triggers for you feel free to skip this. Again, my writing is bad, sorry in advance, I'm working on it. I will most likely come back and edit this. This is centered on Aiden and her dad, the Iwatobi boys will reappear next chapter. I don't own Free!.

* * *

Chapter 3: Glass

Aiden turned the doorknob and cautiously cracked opened the door. The music was playing loudly throughout the house, she could feel the bass vibrating in her chest. Her father's shoes were in the genkan and further down the hall his coat and suit jacket were on the floor as if he had just tossed them aside. She closed the door behind her and removed her shoes. The house smelled of chemical smoke,_ dad is smoking in the house? _Alarms started going off in her head. Loud music. Smoke. Lights. Disregard to order. Things were adding up to something she was in no mood to deal with. She ventured to the kitchen.

The man was standing at the bar, shirtless and sweaty, pouring himself a drink. _Tequila? Not good. _Her father didn't noticed her come in because he was hyper-focused on his task. Yet another bad sign. She stepped closer and changed her vantage point and sure enough her suspicions were confirmed. On top of the bar was a pile of whole pills, crushed up amphetamines, to the side some fine powder, shards, an assortment of other paraphernalia.

There was no questioning it, her dad was definitely tweaking. By the looks of it he was probably coming to the end of his binge, either already coming down or forcibly trying to bring himself down. Judging by the alcohol it was more than likely the latter, and she really wished it wasn't.

Her father's name was Damien Cole, and if her name wasn't a complete give-away, he was more than a little narcissistic. He had good reason. Her father was a handsome, fit, and charismatic man. He was a brilliant strategist and cunning business man. He had a build other men strived to achieve and women swooned over. He was a serial womanizer. He was a 36-year-old widowed man with two children and he was only capable of loving himself.

Damien was content with the amount of liquid in his glass, he turned, glass in hand, and was met with the scrutinizing eyes of his daughter. Aiden studied him closely. Sweat was constantly streaming down the muscles on his torso. His muscles would twitch every couple seconds, in his arms, abdomen, even his neck. His eyes were now trained on hers but she could see them shift from side to side slightly, quickly like they were vibrating.

"You're high. What are you doing here?" she asked going straight to the point.

"Is that the way to greet your father? You ungrateful bitch!" he yelled slamming the cup back down on the bar, causing cracks to form in the glass from the force.

"You didn't answer the question Damien or should I ask you in English, _what are you doing here?_" She asked in his native language, she didn't feel the need to refer to him with the title 'father' in these situations because he wasn't one. That always lit a fuse in him.

"What was that you little cunt?!" she winced at the insult, she hated that word. "I'm still your father, or did you forget! Who do you think pays for all of this?! Your whore of a dead mother?!" she resisted the urge to attack him, he only brought up her mother as ammunition to hurt her she learned, but it was hard not to retaliate. "NO! It's me! I pay for this shit! This is MY house! I do what I want in my house!" He abruptly lunged forward and seized her by the throat. _That escalated quickly_ she thought trying her best to relax and breathe as he constricted her airway. "Are you gonna tell _ME_ what to do now?! You think you're tough? Huh? Bitch? Aren't you gonna say something?" he toyed with her.

Aiden's fire lit up, seeing no other alternative she decided now was the time to start fighting back. She firmly grabbed ahold of the arm choking her with both hands. He smirked at her thinking she was merely trying to pry off his arm. No. She used it as leverage to steady herself and put as much force into thrusting her knee into his abdomen. She knocked the wind out of him and he staggered back and landed against the kitchen counter. His face was in shadow, but she could feel the pure wrath emanating from him. This wasn't going to be easy.

Once Damien could breathe again he was practically growling, low, throaty noises. Aiden knew what was coming next and figured she'd throw in one last comment even if it did provoke him, "I know you came here to get high because that girlfriend of yours back home has you whipped and wouldn't let you do that stuff around that new kid of yours. Or does she even know this side of you yet. OH! Better yet, you couldn't stand to be around the kid and your new miserable life and came to drown out your sorrows," she taunted him.

Toward the end of her statement the man had launched his right fist to her face which she easily dodge. But she couldn't avoid his left hook aimed at her liver. The force was so great it knocked her back and she fell to her knees. She forgot he thought himself invincible in this condition, he probably didn't even feel pain the same way she did. She tried desperately to catch he breath, but to no avail her father was already on top of her straddling her. She looked up at him, the room was spinning, she was disoriented, but she definitely identified the look in her father's eyes as pain. Agony. But it was only for a brief second because then his hand came down and he back-handed her across the face, hard. Then again on the other side. And again. And again. Until his hands were at her throat again. She looked at him with empty eyes while he constricted her airway once more. _Just go ahead and killed me, coward, _she thought. He looked back at her eyes once again filled with agony and now sadness.

"Bitch, don't look at me like that," he said pained. Then he got up, lifting her by her throat, and violently threw her into the wall lined with cabinets. Her body slammed into it with great force and her head crashed into the edge of one of the cabinets with glass windows. Everything was scrambled in that second, her vision a furry of blurs and stars and all sound dissipated. She fell to her knees and collapsed on her side. The sides of her vision were slowly going black, the room was spinning and her father's blurry form was hovering over her. She didn't move, her father lost interest after a few moments and left. Presumably to get another hit. She let the darkness take her.

* * *

A few hours later Aiden woke up. She sat up, her head was pounding and her body was sore. She touched the back of her head and flinched. It was sticky. Feeling around she grimaced. There were small bits of glass embedded in her skull. She gave an exasperated sigh. _Seriously, not this shit again….and I had just started school. How am I going to explain this? Makoto is going to have a fit. This is beyond annoying._ Over the years she stopped getting angry about these situations, she hardened and grew cold. After that these situations just became a nuisance and she would wait out the visit until he was gone again.

She got up and instead of tending to her wounds the first thing she did was get the kitchen and dining area in order; sweeping up the broken glass littering the area, getting rid of her father's drug paraphernalia, and disinfecting the place because it was covered in dark red smears and one disturbingly large puddle in the middle in the kitchen floor, filling in the grout lines. She forgot head wound tend to bleed more, it looked brutal but she was sure the injury wasn't all that bad_. Looks like I need to drink more water, I don't think it's supposed to be that dark_, she thought, clearly not taking in the seriousness of her situation.

After that she walked over to the living room where her father was passed out on the couch. Shirtless. _Idiot. You'll catch a cold. I swear you act like a damn teenager. Mr. I-do-what-I-want._ He was still drenched in his own sweat, and with no blanket he was sure to get sick, and that meant he would stick around for longer than necessary. She fetched a few blankets and draped them over him. She then got a tall glass of water, aspirin, vitamins, pain pills and a nicotine patch, leaving them out on the coffee table next to him.

This always happened, they would get into it, something would happen, and in the end she would still always end up taking care of her dad. Even though she was aware he didn't deserve it. But she couldn't help it. It came naturally to her, and though she would never admit it to herself, she was happy to do it because for a second it felt like he was really her dad.

She turned off the stereo that he had left on and turned off all the lights before ascending to her room. It was dawn. Aiden's head was throbbing but she was too tired to care. Taking out the glass shards seemed too bothersome, she would rather endure the pain. She paused at that thought, _does that say something about me? I rather deal with the pain than deal with the work? No…that's stupid. I'll just deal with it tomorrow_. She laid down on her side, sinking into her bed and quickly fell asleep into a parade of nightmares.

* * *

Damien stuck around town for the next few days. The morning after their brawl he had woken up to a spotless kitchen and what resembled a hangover kit on the coffee table next to him. Then he realized why he was so cozy and comfortable, the girl had covered him up. He felt waves of guilt, even after what he did she still tended to his sorry ass. He wasn't the type of man to feel remorse for his actions, he was always selfish and self-centered. His kid and wife always came second to himself. But things started changing when another child was introduced to the picture and now he felt like running. That's why her comments had hurt so much, she saw right through him. She was so much like her mother in attitude and appearance, it tore him up inside. But the only thing he seemed to do was hurt her, and he didn't know how to stop. So that morning after fully sobering up and getting cleaned up he went to wake his daughter and took her to their doctor (a good friend of his) Damien paid him enough to avoid questions and get the right prescriptions. The least he could do after hurting her like that was get her the best care, he could never say he was sorry, but he hoped he could express himself through his actions.

Aiden was surprised to see her father's new car, though she didn't know why, it should be expected by now. She was overly relieved when he told her they were going to the doctor, she didn't know if she could bring herself to pry out the pieces of glass herself. Not to mention all the addition damaged that could exist after sleeping through the night with glass in her skull! She wasn't even slightly surprised or touched at her father's gesture, this was becoming routine. He would do something excessively idiotic, then he would feel guilty and then he would try to over compensate for it by being uncharacteristically nice, or with money and gifts. All because the idiot couldn't bring himself to apologize.

At the doctor they clean up her wound and tended to her other injuries. The doctor told her she did not get a concussion and her head was mostly covered in smaller cuts that would not need stitches. He issued her an unnecessarily high amount of pain meds, a natural salve for the bruises and to prevent scars and he gave her a good excuse note and a blank signed excuse note should she miss extra days. _Where does Damien find these people? So shady. _

Over the next few days she stuck around the house. Damien bought her a new piano and a laptop to keep her preoccupied. Makoto came by on several occasions but Damien sent him away each time assuring him she was fine, just a little sick, but he wouldn't let Makoto see her.

* * *

On the night before Damien left he cooked dinner for them. He made asado de vacío with chimichurri, a dish his mother always made for him as a child. Aiden didn't expect the man to cook, let alone a typical Argentinian dish, she thought he preferred not to acknowledge that side of his heritage anymore. She happily sat down to eat with him because, well, her dad just happened to be a good cook. She should have suspected there was an ulterior motive, but she was too busy relishing the taste.

"Ryuu."

"Don't call me that," she snapped, that one word from his mouth was enough to ruin a night.

"Aiden, I want you to listen to me, don't snap at me, just give me a minute and listen," he said as calmly as he could. She also calmed herself, shoveling another bite of chimichurri covered beef into her mouth she motioned for him to continue.

"I'll be leaving tomorrow to go abroad for a few months, maybe longer. I'll spend most of that time in the states and Europe. I will send for you in that time, you will visit your grandfather in America," he said firmly not leaving room to argue. He went on to explain in a tone that almost made him sound like a father, "I set up a bank account for you, I'm leaving a folder explaining everything, you will have several responsibilities while I'm gone. I expect you to keep up with the bills and look after this and the other house."

_So he is running away from his new family. Why is he trusting me with this? It's not like him, _she thought. She was studying him, reading his body language. Stiff muscles, no twitching, squared shoulders, straighten back, hands folded in front of him, and a stern expression. He was being serious. Her eyebrows slowly pulled closer and closer together and she frowned. _He expects me to go to America now? I thought we agreed I wouldn't have to travel anymore, that I could stay here in Iwatobi._ Her father was looking right back at her mirroring her expression, awaiting a reply, anything.

"What you're doing is cruel," she stated, no undertone in her voice, just pointing out the truth.

"What?" he asked confused, she never got upset about him leaving. If it was about America, it would only be for a few weeks, he didn't know what she was referring to. He thought he had went about this in a civilized way this time, "What are you saying? I'm not going to make you moved—"

"What you are doing to that woman and child. It is cruel," she stated monotone. Damien was now even more confused, where was this coming from? What did it have to do with what he just said?

"Don't look at me like that," she said with an edge, "don't act like you don't understand what I'm saying Damien. You should just break away from them now. Don't do to them what you did to us," her tone was changing accusing and sympathetic at the same time. "What you are doing is cruel, you are running away hiding behind the pretense of work and drowning in your vices. I bet she isn't even fully aware of your lifestyle." Damien looked like he was slapped across the face, he was trying not to lash out. She sighed, "Seriously, if you are so unhappy then just be honest about it. Then you can leave and live your life how you want to and they can move on to something better. You basically got rid of me already, I'll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine."

Damien couldn't believe it. His daughter had just given him the go-ahead to abandon his family, to abandon her. Though it should have been tempting, he was insulted. He admitted to being a detestable human being, but he never thought himself the kind of person to just abandon his family. He felt a strong sense of responsibility to provide for his children. Wasn't it enough for him to show up every now and then? But he couldn't deny that he didn't feel tied down now with this new child, and he was only with his mother out of obligation, he didn't care for her at all. He hadn't even introduced either one of them to his daughter. So why was she so concerned? Shouldn't she hate them?

"Why do you even care?" he cursed himself, he sounded like a child.

"Because even that kid doesn't deserve that. How many years are you gonna hold out before you start smacking him around too? Or is that something you only reserve for me and my mother?" she said with venom in her voice.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Damien slammed his fist on the table. Guilt and anger swirled inside him.

"Why?" she asked softly, looking defiant. He glared at her. It dawn on him that if it wasn't for her statement, he would have lashed out physically at her at that moment. He tried his best to compose himself and regain the position of authority.

"My business with my family doesn't concern you," he said dryly.

"So I guess that means we aren't family," she said in a small voice. That shouldn't have hurt as much as it did. There was a long silence, she kept her eyes glued to the table. She was begging for him to correct himself, to acknowledge her and she disgusted herself.

"No, you are just my daughter," he stated and offered no further explanation on the contradicting statement. She felt a knot in her throat. Dinner was over, she didn't want to be near the man anymore but she waited a while longer, maybe he would say something else. He never did. After what seemed like an eternity, grabbed her plate and place it in the sink. Damien continued to finish his meal, not knowing how he had the stomach to do it.

"Muchas gracias," she thanked him for the food in Spanish, since it was an Argentinian dish. Standing in front of him directing her gaze at the floor she set her pride aside and spoke, "Damien, I may hate to admit it but you are my father. That means you are my family, that kid is my half-brother. It's natural I would care, but I respect your decision to exclude me from your family. But you are still included in mine, you happen to be the sole member now. So be safe on your trip." She turned to leave.

Damien was amazed at her maturity, he didn't expect it. He felt a sense of pride, she was a good person despite that shit that he made her world. He had a twisted logic. He was touched she still viewed him as a father and for a brief second he thought about changing his ways. It was very brief.

"I'll leave that folder in the office. Along with all the keys. Aiden," he called. She turned. "_Thank you, take care_," he said in English, Aiden felt an annoying feeling of what could be identified as false hope. She said to him, dismissing his brief moment of tenderness, "Okay, leave a bottle of uppers behind, will you? I'll have a pile of makeup work to do thanks to this beating." She walked away quickly not giving him time to respond. Damien looked after her and a storm of emotions brewed inside him.

Aiden quickly stripped down when she reached her room. The lump in her throat was getting to her. She felt defeated and she didn't want to figure out why. She threw herself on the bed, turning to the side to avoid hurting her injury, expecting to cry herself to sleep. The tears never came. Just the heavy feeling weighing her chest down constricting her breathing. She fell asleep convincing herself the feeling would be gone in the morning just as he would be.

_Yeah. He'll be gone. Finally. _

It was then that she identified what that feeling was. Dread. An overwhelming sense of dread. The feeling was far too familiar. There was something wrong with this trip. Something bad was coming.

* * *

A/N: Let me know what you think, what you liked, what you didn't like, what was wrong with it and such.

About her dad, he is a terrible human being, but from what I've learned, girls need/want a father. So they general have a very confused relationship. But child abuse is wrong, no one should have to put up with that, but reality is alot of people do, and its viewed differently by different cultures. Aiden has four different cultures engrained into her, and they all approach it differently, especially those salvies, so of course the girl is gonna have a messed up picture of her situation. Still I don't condone it.

genkan- an entryway where you take your shoes off

muchas gracias- thank you

chimichurri- awesome parsley sauce from Argentina kinda like pesto

asado de vacío- is basically grilled beef


	4. Chapter 4: Patch

A/N: If you're still reading this, thank you, you're a doll. Anyways, I went back and changed a lot of things in this chapter so I really hope it's better. Let me know what you think. Also I think Makoto is ooc, I want to say I'm sorry but I won't because I'll probably keep writing him like that.

Regardless here is chapter four.

* * *

Chapter 4: Patch

The morning her dad left Aiden checked the office. Sure enough, on the desk neatly laid out was the folder, the keys and much to her disappointment a bottle of orange pills.

"Idiot."

Over the next few days she sat around doing mostly nothing. She didn't eat much. She spent the majority of her day sleeping, lying around or playing the piano. When she bathed, she spent hours in the bath. Her mind was restless. As always. The water calmed her, but the water had also become her adversary. She was eventually left feeling numb again, and the medicine added to the effect. In those days she continued taking the medicine the doctor prescribed her, though, she might have taken more than what he prescribed. The fact was she was still healing and thankfully the marks on her neck were fading enough to be passed off as hickeys.

Makoto had stopped by several times but didn't realize Aiden's father was gone until a few days later. After realizing this he forced his way in through the back door to check in. He had to see what the damage was this time. The sun was starting to go down and the house was dark. He immediately went to check her room, knocking this time. He heard her groan something incoherent and let himself in. She was wearing clothing, flannel pajama pants and a tank top.

"Aiden-kun, you're here. Are you alright? I was worried," he said concerned.

"You're always worried Mako," she said with a rough voice not moving from her curled up position on the bed. Makoto frowned and sat next to her.

He inspected her face, it seemed unharmed; he felt a sense of relief. It was immediately replaced by horror when he got a glimpse of her neck, the marks were faint now but the impression of her father's hands were embedded in her skin. She was watching him now, feeling guilty.

"It's okay Mako-chan, it's healing and I'm fine. I promise. Don't look so horrified, you'll make me think I'm ugly," she said diverting his concern.

"No that's not it at all. You're very beautiful," he said, turning red. She sat up and got closer to him.

"You really think so?" she teased. Sometimes she scared herself how quickly she could jump from mood to mood. Or was it from mask to mask? "That color looks good on your cheeks Mako-chan, where'd you get it?" she smirked and pinched his cheek. He pushed her hand away now thoroughly flustered. Seeing her smirk he noticed the dark circles under her eyes and his eyes drifted back down to her neck. He saw what she was trying to do.

"Stop that," he said gently, "What happened Aiden-kun? He did that to you, didn't he? Why do you keep letting him do this to you?"

She sighed and fell back on the bed, "You're so persistent…." It was so like him to be eager to patch up her wounds, "Yeah the idiot did this, and before you skin check me from head to toe, I also have some nasty gashes on the back on my head and some bruised ribs."

He gasped, "Aiden-kun! Are you okay?! Did you get a concussion? How could he do that to you? Did you see a doctor? Why didn't you come find me? Something worse could have happened."

"Whoa, calm down Mako," she stopped him, "I told you I'm fine. I did see a doctor, Damien took me. The head thing was just an accident," she lied, "they're just cuts. You don't need to worry, neither do I for that matter. He left. He won't be back for a long time, probably not until after graduation, so there is nothing to worry about."

"Aiden…." he said looking at her very seriously he brought a hand up to her neck, and she flinched from the physical contact. _How is this nothing to worry about? I am worried_, he thought, _what am I supposed to do if he goes too far next time? What am I supposed to be if she's gone for good one day?_

"What if he does come back?" he asked.

Aiden replied firmly, "He won't." And she tried to ignore the fact that she knew there was more truth to that statement than she was comfortable with.

Out of impulse he picked the girl up from her place and pulled her into a warm, tight embrace, seating her on his lap. Aiden gasped, it was too sudden. Nonetheless she melted in his arms, all the tension left her muscles as he clutched her for dear life. She wiggled her arms out, put them around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. His scent was a strange combination of neroli and spearmint that was fresh and familiar. She could feel his solid muscular torso under her, he was ripped and lean. His arms pressed into her revealing how well sculpted they were. Makoto was strong. It all made her feel safe, guarded, and most of all warm.

After a few minutes they fell to their sides on the bed facing each other. Makoto still kept an arm around Aiden with the other hand he traced her bruises and features. They were close enough for her to casually lay her hands on his chest and watch him while his fingers drifted across her skin.

Makoto ran his fingertips along her jaw line, down her neck, stopping at several nasty bruises and continuing to her collarbone. He got lost in his thoughts as his fingers explored her skin. His hand made its way to her shoulder and back up to her jaw line. There he brushed his thumb against a small scar right underneath her bottom lip. It was a ghost. He remembered she was nine when she got that one. He touched another one on her forehead, it was so faint even at this distance he could have missed it. That one was unfamiliar. He found many more that had gone unnoticed up to that point and he frowned. _This is wrong, _he thought, _she doesn't deserve this. He doesn't deserve you. _And he pulled her closer, having her bury her face in his chest, and he pressed his cheek on the top of her head. He played with her hair. _Aiden you deserve better. _

Aiden's sense of guilt grew with every touch. She selfishly craved more of his caresses, she hungered for that warmth that he radiated. Her insides fluttered when she saw the tender look in his eyes. She wanted him to stay with her, she wanted to stay there with him. She let him explore for as long as he pleased because truth was she missed him, and she was getting high on his scent, his touch and his warmth. But when he frowned noticing her old scars she remembered why she always kept her distance from him. _This is wrong, _she thought, _he doesn't deserve this. I don't deserve him._ She buried her face in his chest as he pulled her closer, and she shivered when he started playing with her hair. The gesture brought a wave of comfort that was heavily laced with guilt. _Makoto you deserve better. _

She felt vibrating on the front of her thigh and she immediately escaped his encasing arms. She checked her phone but it wasn't hers, Makoto pulled his out. They both sat up and put distance between them now realizing just how intimate that moment was and how it could have looked if someone had walked in.

"Hello. Okay. Of course. I'll be there soon. Okay, bye," Makoto said into the phone, his mother on the line. He hung up and got up, towering over her at 183 cm, he looked down at her spoke, "That was my mom, dinner is ready. She made enough for you to join us, she would love to have you over. What do you say?"

She felt a small pain in her chest and reluctantly replied, "Not tonight. Thank you, but I can't."

"Ren and Ran, they haven't seen you in a while, they're getting big. She made curry, come over, you haven't been eating I can tell," Makoto insisted with a smile on his face, though inside the disappointment was bubbling up.

"I can't do it Makoto," she said looking down at the sheets on her bed _I'm sorry_ she said in her head.

"Some other time then," Makoto said with a hopeful smile, "Get some rest, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah," Aiden said and watched him leave. Long after she heard the front door close she fell back on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She waited for the cold to creep up and envelop her body until all traces of Makoto's touch and warmth were erased.

"Ah. This is how it should be," she said aloud.

* * *

Aiden had an elbow on the desk leaning her cheek on her hand as she stared out the window to her left. The sound of her homeroom teacher giving a lecture on classic literature was tuned out as she focused her attention to the two birds flying in circles with each other in the clear blue sky.

She let Makoto drag her out of bed that morning, he insisted it was time for her to go back to school. She did have a valid excuse to stay home and proof and permission from a professional to back it up but she couldn't argue with Makoto. Quite frankly she was starting to get bored at home. Then again, school was just as boring.

At lunch she joined Makoto and Haru. Makoto had packed a bento for her, she opened it; onigiri, strawberry, apples and tamagoyaki. Simple, pretty, and exactly how her mother used to pack it for her. It felt bittersweet. Nostalgic. Mako-chan, she couldn't ask for a better friend. She started to eat with a sad, distant smile on her face. Looking down her mind went back to a time long ago. Makoto peeked at her and felt satisfaction when she smiled, even if it was laced with sadness.

Then Nagisa came joined them and went on about how hard it was to recruit a new member. Aiden wasn't paying attention, his voice grated on her ears. However she did notice Haru randomly glancing at her. Nagisa was talking about someone named Rei and how beautiful he was at pole vaulting. Eventually he started to give up hope, coming to the conclusion that no one will join them. Then Makoto got an idea.

"Aiden-kun?" Makoto called to her, she whipped her head around to face him, slightly startled. "Aiden-kun, can you help us find a fourth member for the club? We'll need one to participate in tournaments and get funding for the club. Will you help us?"

"Huh?" she raised an eyebrow, how was she supposed to help? She hardly knew anyone. "Uhh, I guess…."

"That's great! Aiden-chan's exotic moves are gonna reel in a new member. Put that hot body to good use!" Nagisa latched on to her from the back, hugging her tightly, groping the sides of her body, but she wasn't ticklish.

"Was that necessary!? Really!?" she asked annoyed pushing him away, "I'm not making any promises, and I don't have any 'exotic moves.' What I'm going to do is put my 'hot body' to good use by beating you into the ground," she threatened. Nagisa was probably the only person that could make her that vicious and violent that quickly.

"Ooo, scary. Aiden-chan no one will want to join if you are scary," Nagisa pouted.

"Well you're adorable as a kitten and I don't see anyone joining," she retorted.

"AAAidenn-chhann! You think I'm adorable!" Nagisa squealed.

"Shut up," she shoved him, the corners of her mouth tugging up. This did not go unnoticed by Makoto, who fist pumped inwardly.

* * *

"I have good news for everyone today," Gou announced. The boys sat on the floor in front of her, Aiden sat on the bench off to the side. Pulling her eyes away from the pool, that was now filled with clear sparkling water, she lent her attention to the red-head. "Amazingly enough, I was able to schedule a joint practice with Samezuka!" Gou told them excitedly. Aiden's heart jumped in her chest for a moment.

"What? Really?" Nagisa asked wide-eyed.

"Did you ask Rin?" asked Makoto, he must've read Aiden's mind.

"My brother won't listen to me, so I went straight to their captain," Gou said, Aiden didn't know why it was a letdown Rin wasn't behind this.

"That's our super manager, Gou-cha—"

"It's Kou," Gou curtly cut Nagisa off with a smile.

"That means we have permission to swim in Samezuka's indoor pool now," Makoto said.

"But…..since it's a joint practice, we need to bring four members at minimum," she added. At this Aiden slumped. She had failed at her attempt to recruit a new member, she had asked about 14 fit looking boys and was rejected every time, after being insulted, rejected and then hit on she decided to give up. Truth was no one wanted to join the swim club, it was new, unknown, and people preferred to swim in the ocean apparently.

"That means we have to recruit a new member before the practice," Nagisa stated concerned, "Especially since Gou-chan used her sex appeal to get us this chance."_ Again Nagi? Again with the sex appeal?_ Aiden thought.

"I did not use sex appeal!" Gou shouted flabbergasted.

"Huh? You didn't?"

"Of course not!"

Makoto approached her, they tuned out Gou and Nagisa's bickering, "Aiden-kun, any luck finding a new member?"

"No. No one wants to join. I don't really know anybody anyways," Aiden said dejected.

"It'll work out. Will you come with us to Samezuka?" Makoto asked hopefully.

"Yeah sure. It's a chance to see you guys swim," she replied.

"Rin will be there," he said voice laced with worry. Her eyebrows slanted inwards and her mouth twisted to the side at this, "I'm sure you'll be fine" he corrected himself with a nervous smile. Then more seriously he said, "Maybe this will give you a chance to talk to him and clear things up."

"Yeah…maybe," Aiden said, though in her mind she was thinking, _as soon as that guy says one word to me I'm clocking him in the face. _Out of the corner of her eye she could see Haru looking at her with his bland face, if she had Makoto's gift she could decipher the subtleties in his nonexistent expression. Usually he did this to her. He would just stare, no lines in his face, eyes glazed over, just staring at her. That or he would just look horribly annoyed, which for Haru meant his eyebrows would crinkle up a bit and he would scowl. But this time he spoke,

"You should come."

Makoto turned to his friend, his mouth agape.

"Okay," was Aiden's reply. Makoto turned back to his neighbor eyes wider. Aiden resisted the urge to slap him out of his shock. It looked like his jaw was going to hit the floor and his eyes would pop out of his head. What was so shocking?

…

…

…

_Oh! I get it. That's the first time Haru has spoken to me since I came back! Mako stop being so cute, I really don't think it's that big of a deal. It was three words. _

Aiden gently closed Makoto's mouth by pressing up on his chin with her fingertips, they lingered longer than necessary. He snapped out of it. The corners of her mouth tugged upwards slightly. Makoto's did too, only they pulled into a full-blown grin. His eyes sparkled.

"I'll see you tomorrow, I'm going ahead alone," Aiden said grabbing her bag and sketchbook. After she was out of sight Makoto looked over to his best friend, who was being verbally attacked by Nagisa. He chuckled and thought,

_We need to find a fourth member._

* * *

Nagisa ran up to Haru, Mako and Aiden in front of the main gate of the school panting.

"What are you doing?" Haru asked. Nagisa was bent over hands on his knees. Sweat dripping down the side of his face.

"Haru-chan. Aiden-chan. Mako-chan," Nagi panted, "Oh. Rei-chan." The three turned to see who he was addressing. A tall boy with blue hair and red glasses.

"You're Haru-chan-san?" Rei asked Haru.

Haru's eyes narrowed, looking threatening he said, "Don't put –chan _and_ –san on my name."

"Is something up?" Nagisa interjected. Aiden smirked at Haru and mouthed '–chan-san' at him.

"I'm willing to participate in your joint practice as a trial member," Rei stated.

"Trial member?" Aiden asked no one in particular.

"What? Really!" Nagisa said disbelieving, seeming hopeful again.

"But only on one condition," Nagisa immediately deflated again, "I won't do any swimming."

Nagisa went on to reassure him that it was fine and told him where to meet and the rest of the details with more excitement than anyone should be capable of in the morning. Aiden scrutinized the blue-haired boy. _Who joins a swim club and expects not to swim?_ _There's something off about him_.

She waited until Makoto and Haru went ahead of her to confront the newbie.

"Ryugazaki-kun, why won't you swim?" she asked bluntly, Nagisa looked horrified.

"You are?" Rei asked

"Aiden Cole. Answer the question," she said seriously.

"It's not beautiful," Rei said adjusting his glasses and turning his head to the side. He sounded confident enough but his actions and his voice didn't match. When he reached for his glasses it was like he was trying to hide his face.

"I don't see anything that can be more beautiful than becoming one with the water," she countered looking intensely into his eyes, eyebrows knit together. At this Rei paused and seemed to really look at her for the first time. She watched his eyes move as they looked her up and down. Probably sizing her up. "Regardless, don't be late." Not waiting for his reaction she went to class. However she wasn't at ease, she knew that kid would be trouble. That, and he insulted the water, which was just wrong. In class she stared at Haru's back trying to send her thoughts to him telepathically. Haru would understand, he was in a romantic relationship with the water afterall, but the guy literally hadn't said more than three words to her so she couldn't talk to him.

The rest of the school day dragged.

* * *

A/N: I hope you liked it. Review if liked or didn't like.

Rin is making his entrance next chapter. I'm excited, and terrified.

I'm behind on all of my classes, but this story isn't the sole reason for that. My great-grandma passed away so I've been dealing with all that, still am, but I kinda threw my school work aside and concentrated on this as a distraction. With midterms coming up in a few weeks I'm most likely going to set this aside, it's either that or my chapters are going to be a lot smaller for a while.


	5. Chapter 5: Line

Chapter 5: Line

Two girls stood starry-eyed in front of Samezuka Academy's indoor pool. Sparkles could practically be seen glittering around Gou and Aiden, just like the light glimmering in their eyes from the sights in front of them.

Gou had her mouth in a shape of an 'o' her cheeks a healthy rosy shade as she ogled the half-naked swimmers stretching around the pool. "Amazing," she breathlessly uttered, "Incredible biceps. And so many."

"Ehhhh?!" Makoto exclaimed behind them.

"Stunning," Aiden expressed dreamily.

"Not you too Aiden-kun," Makoto dismayed shaking his head but Aiden paid no mind. Her attention was solely focused on the seven-lane body of water majestically sitting in front of her. The building was expansive with the overhead curved roof and side walls made entirely of glass allowing light to pour in over the water. It shimmered as it rocked from side to side and reverberated off the walls sending the scent of chlorine wafting through the air.

Without realizing it she'd already pulled out her sketchbook, it had become habit to document interesting new places and things. She started a rough technical sketch of the building with a softer more detailed concentration on her focal point, the water. She excluded the swimmers except five silhouettes, three taller figures, two in stretching poses and two shorter figures facing each other with hands in the air in argumentative poses. Aiden was swift and quick, her lines ranged from organic and flowing to simple, geometric and angular, with varying intensity. Some of her lines were carefree loose shapes, others were light scratches, and many were precise technical lines with estimated measurements scribbled to one side.

"It looks a lot like an architectural draft," a tall young man said over her shoulder. Aiden turned to see him and didn't recognize him. "You made the lines on starting block 4 bolder than the rest," he commented. From a distance Haru glared at the newcomer.

"Umm…sure," she said skeptically. She scrutinized him. He was a lot taller than her, she was certain he was at least a few inches taller than Makoto, and more well-built, he wore Samezuka's workout sweats. He had his nearly shoulder length black hair tied black in a messy half ponytail with some off his bangs slipping out framing his face. What stood out the most to her were his striking eyes: thin almond-shaped and light grey, so light in fact it was more appropriate to call it silver, with irises lined with dark grey rims. She was staring at them. _Gou needs to see this_.

"It's an odd mix of styles but you make it work. I like it," he flashed her a cheeky smile. Before she was able to react or respond one of the first years yell to him from across the building.

"Miyazaki-senpai! We're ready for you!"

With the same playful smile he told her, "See you around." When he left her she suddenly became very aware of all the bustling in her surroundings. The place was starting to fill up with more people. Makoto and Haruka had already stripped down to their swimsuits and were stretching. The person she recognized as the team captain from Gou's description was walking up to her and Gou who was still fangirling over biceps. So Aiden retreated to a bench under the second level terrace overlooking the pool. She wanted to finish her sketch and wasn't technically apart of the swim club so she distanced herself to stay out-of-the-way. Or that's what she told herself anyways.

"Hey thanks for coming!" Mikoshiba Seijuro, captain of the Samezuka swim team exclaimed loudly catching Aiden's attention. She watched from afar and he continued to speak to Haru, although she couldn't hear what he is saying she could tell it was something Haru was uncomfortable with.

At that moment a boy with red eyes and burgundy hair came through the double doors behind the group. Aiden gasped and her heartbeat skyrocketed. She was having trouble controlling her breathing and her ears were ringing. Thoughts raced through her mind, one stood out: _that fucker_. He was talking to a smaller boy with grey hair when Gou excitedly ran over to him, "Onii-chan!"

. . . .

"Gou, what are you trying to do?" Rin asked his sister at a near whisper. _Trying to help you_, Gou answered in her head.

"Rin-chan! We get to swim together again! Let's have fun today!" an intrusive Nagi exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Together? Huh! You guys are a waste of my time," Rin arrogantly scoffed as he walked out.

"Onii-chan…" All she ever does is tries to get close and help him out and all he does is push them away. He never validates her efforts but she refuses to give up.

"What's his problem?" Rei asked.

"Yeah, there's some history there," Makoto said. Then he glanced back at Aiden. She had her eyes closed. He felt a pain in his chest, his body wanted to move. Haru put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head 'no'. Makoto smiled and thanked him before organizing the team. He could talk to her later, he told himself. She probably wanted to be alone right now but after this she will finally open up to him, he hoped.

. . . .

Gou's innocent greeting and Rin's discrete response made Aiden more tense than expected. She was gripping her pencil so tightly it was going to snap. She closed her eyes as Nagi approached red pair and focused on the sound of her breath. She needed to calm herself before the throbbing behind her left eye turned into a headache. She had expected to react like that, she thought it was going to be worse, yet still she was discontent with her body's reaction because she had convinced her mind that it was sound.

With her eyes closed and mind focused she breathed in slowly. _One. Two. Three. Four. Exhale._ Then she released her breath fully. She ran through that cycle many times before opening her eyes. When she finally did Rin was gone and both teams were listening to Mikoshiba.

"What? Why is he here then? You can use one of our spare swimsuits, so go get changed!" the captain yelled at Rei. Then Nagi and Rei panicked and protested but the captain just called out "Hey, Nitori!" The same boy with grey hair Rin spoke to earlier came forward and hauled Rei off to get changed. Seeing Rei so flustered made Aiden feel so much better that it flipped a switch. She _almost_ felt guilty for getting pleasure out of his misery, and what more was sure to come, instead she would thank him for him one day. Once more she noted to herself how freaky her mood swings were.

She returned to her sketchbook. "Fuck…," she failed to get anywhere because she had snapped her pencil in her hand during her moment and it was now just pieces in her palm. She exchanged it for a new one and pulled out a few splinters before returning to her sketch to add more details.

Haru was pretending he wasn't watching Aiden sketch as he stood next to her even though had been watching intently since Rei had disappeared to the locker rooms. Aiden felt him looming over her but decided to ignore it, she was busy shading the water in her sketch. However his gaze was growing more intense and instead of making her uncomfortable it was just irritating.

"Yes Haru-chan?" she asked annoyed but continuing her work. Haru just frowned behind her, somehow she knew his expression had changed so she looked up at him, "Use your words."

Haru and Aiden just stared at each other, Aiden trying to figure out what he was saying with his bland expression, and Haru trying to say what he is thinking without saying it. He loved her eyes, they always reminded him of golden light reflecting off the clear ocean. Looking at her whole face he realized how beautiful she had become, his eyes focused on lips. Was this really the same girl he was always so cold to? Aiden cocked her head to the side and Haru finally spoke "It's nice," and backed away. Aiden went back to her drawing hoping no one had noticed the light blush dusting her cheeks.

Gou joined them at the poolside and the two girls politely acknowledged each other. Gou then bent down and whispered to Aiden, "Onii-chan is here," she said pointing up, "Have you seen him?" Aiden was glad she had relaxed and

gotten 'that' out of her system.

"Yes. I saw him walk in, I don't think he saw me. Does he know I'm here?" Aiden asked as quietly as she could so the shark wouldn't hear them from the terrace above. Gou just shook her head no. "Good." Gou offered a worried smile and they both turned to see Makoto standing by at starting block 3, it sent a surge of excitement through both girls.

"The deal was that I wouldn't have to swim," Rei complained in front of her. The four had gotten much closer to the pool and where standing in front of her politely to the side so she could watch. Aiden rolled her eyes, she still couldn't fathom it, who agrees to join a swim club and refuses to swim? And why? She had her hypothesis on the why but hoped she was wrong, well only a little, another sick twisted side of her wanted to see him fuck up and she was sure he would.

"Don't worry. These time trials are just for practice, so it doesn't matter if you're slow," Nagi said optimistically.

"That's not the issue!" Rei exclaimed.

"You're right, the issue here is all your whining. Now shut it. Look it's Mako-chan's turn. Watch," Aiden snapped from the bench behind them. Rei turned to her looking appalled.

"Oh look," and they all watched Makoto except Gou who looked up at her brother and then to Haru. Aiden watched her childhood friend swim intently contemplating jumping into the pool with him. As he did his last turn Nagisa stepped up to the starting block leaving Rei alone with Aiden. She analyzed Rei, he was sweating, breathing fast and heavy. It looked like the start of a panic attack.

"Ryugazaki-kun why so nervous?" Aiden pried.

"I'm not, it's this swimsuit. It's not beautiful," Rei said reaching to adjust his glasses.

"Ryugazaki-kun, don't lie. What are you hiding?" Aiden said more commanding.

"Keep it coming! Next swimmer get ready," called out Seijuro.

Makoto walked up to them dripping and slightly out of breath, "You're up next Ryugazaki-kun." He ran his hand through his hair; Aiden suddenly started to feel very warm.

Rei gasped, "I told you I'm not—"

"Hey, next swimmer! Move to starting block!" Seijuro yelled.

Aiden whispered into Rei's ear, "You should tell someone before you make a fool of yourself and the club."

Knowing she was aware of his inability to swim mortified him but he refused to give in. Makoto in his reassuring voice said, "Well…you might as well." He cocked his head and smiled that signature Tachibana smile, and Rei was defeated, so was Aiden. "Fine!"

"Mako-channn," Aiden pouted and Mako turned to her hand running through his hair again, "You can't do that."

"Do what?" he smiled.

"Flash that ridiculously attractive smile when you're all dripping wet and exposed. It's enough to make a girl swoon," she said mischievously. He started to turn red. "Seriously when did this happen," motioning to his whole body, "and where exactly have you been hiding it."

"Aiden! What are you saying?! What are you talking about?! Isn't that supposed to be my line?!" Makoto exclaimed and when he caught what he said he turned bright red up to his ears. As he struggled to retract his statement Aiden grabbed her bag and got up to leave.

"Relax, I'm just kidding. But seriously it's impressive compared to the little kid I remember but if you're going to compete you still need to get in better shape. Anyways, I'm going home. I have stuff to do. I'll see you tomorrow," she said walking off.

"Huh? Wait, Aiden-kun, it's late. You can't go home alone," Makoto following her, his instinct told him she was keeping something from him.

"It's fine Mako really," she stopped to say, she sounded sincere.

"Is he back? Is that why?" he asked in a low voice.

"No, I already told you he isn't coming back," she answered with a familiar sinking feeling.

"If you say so, be safe, I'll stop by later," he said pulling her into a tight wet hug. Aiden blushed and melted for a brief moment. She wasn't kidding about his body. She hadn't seen him like this, they were both growing up and he was certainly handsome. Her face was pressed against his bare chest. There is was again, neroli and spearmint now mixed with the scent of chlorine. _Mmm_, she purred. It was a brief hug, but from the terrace red eyes left Haruka to watch Makoto with curiosity. _Makoto's with a girl? How did that happen? Who is she?_ Rin thought.

Pulling away Aiden said, "I'll see you later. Look, Ryugazaki-kun is on the starting block, you should go watch."

"Call me if anything," he said hiding his face and then jogged to the poolside. Rin was only able to catch brown hair flowing behind her as she walked out, he imagined a face that used to have hair like that but quickly shook it out of his mind. _No...it couldn't be..._

* * *

Down the hall she heard the swim club cry out in unison, "EHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Tch, baka. He just wouldn't listen. Far too much pride. I bet _that_ wasn't beautiful, moron," she muttered to herself with a corner of her mouth tugging up as she walked through unfamiliar territory.

"And who exactly is this prideful idiot you're rambling about?" the boy from earlier, Miyazaki, called out. She spun around abruptly to discover he was tailing her.

"Just some kid. Are you following me?"

"Maybe," he said with a playful smile, "Or maybe I was just going to my dorm. Will you be joining me, or should I show you around?" he said suggestively. She found him a little over-confident but also oddly charming. His eyes were fascinating and combined with his smile it was more than enough to keep her attention.

"Well that depends, can you take me somewhere I can kickback unseen until after dark?" She said enticing. At this he raised an eyebrow incredulously. She added in critical tone, "Don't go getting the wrong idea."

"Of course not," he said flashing her his pearly whites, "I know just where to go, come on."

He seized her hand and dragged her along. Aiden tried to recoil from the physical contact but his grip was firm. Miyazaki guided her to the roof of the tallest building. On the way there she got looks from the few boys they passed but not one said a thing. She wondered if it was because of the person she was with or the fact that she was a girl made them nervous.

On the roof the breeze was light and carried the salty scent of the ocean. The sun was barely beginning to turn the few clouds in the sky into an array of pink, orange, and purple hues. There was still a lot of time before the sun fully set so Aiden took a seat on a bench. Miyazaki sat on the other end a minute later. While the silence between them wasn't uncomfortable, she began to question what he was still doing there with her. After studying him for a while she pulled out her sketchbook and began to draw him. He had his eyes closed and just looked so peaceful. This stranger was doing a beautiful job of expressing the ideal picture of complete blissful calm. She was envious.

"So what are you plotting? Why are you hiding out at an all-boys boarding school?" he asked without opening his eyes. He was eager to see what type of drawing she could do when it wasn't architectural. He admired her eccentric style, and reasoning.

"Do you really want to know?" she asked in a mysterious low voice. He opened his eyes faced her and with all the seriousness he could muster he stated, "Yes."

She took a deep breath, "I'm going skinny dipping in your pool" she deadpanned. The boy's lips twitched and he tried to contain it, "Pfff," he broke out into laughter muffled by his hand. She giggled quietly. She felt oddly carefree around this stranger.

"No, but in all seriousness, I really am here to break into your pool afterhours. I'm going swimming…..although now I realize I'll have to find my way back…." she trailed off trying to remember. Miyazaki stopped laughing and offered, "I'll take you there if you want, but I won't stick around and wait for you to get caught. I can't risk it."

She smiled at him, "I would really appreciate that. Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Huh? Do I really need a reason to be nice to some so beautiful?" he said as if it was obvious. His compliment made her uncomfortable but she didn't protest. Returning to her sketchbook she replied "I guess not…go back to how you were I would really like to finish this one," then in a much quieter voice, "because I think it will turn out very gorgeous."

"I'm glad you think so," the boy said back in his pose. Her smile lingered as she returned to her scribbles. After an hour or so and having lost light, she was content with what she had, it was a quick portrait in her style with special attention to his expression.

"Okay, you can move now. I'm done," she said writing the detail on the bottom corner as she always did. _Date. Location. Time. Reason .Subject. Name_….. Aiden watched the boy, who was now standing and stretching and it occurred to her.

"Hi, my name is Aiden Cole, it's nice to meet you, I don't think we've met," she said incredibly formal even with a small bow and keeping a straight face. The boy grinned at the girl standing in front of him. "You can call me Aiden," she added biting the inside of her lip.

"It's lovely meeting you Aiden-chan," he said bowing back. She liked hearing him call her _–chan_. "I'm Miyazaki Kaito. Call me Kaito, you can also call me Kai." He flashed her his cheeky smile.

"Okay, Kaito-san," she said writing it on the page. Putting it away immediately afterwards. "Now we wait I guess."

"Huh? I don't get to see it?" Kaito asked looking legitimately disappointed.

"No, don't asked. Maybe if I see you again someday."

"Then give me your email address," he commanded confidently. She considered it for a moment and figured why not?

* * *

A/N: Rin finally made his appearance! I feel that he is and will be ooc, his history is different.  
-About the new OC, you'll be seeing alot more of him.  
-Note that Aiden isn't the most mentally stable person. There is alot of up and down (all over the place really) with her and there is so much her friends don't know about her.

Chapter 6 should be out later today, it's longer and centered on Rin and Aiden.

-The following is only semi-relevant to the story-

I waited to upload this/these chapter(s) because they're a sort of present, today Oct 15 is a special day to me, two years ago today was the last time I stuck a needle of tar in my arm. It blows my mind I'm alive and well, and for that I'm thankful. No exaggeration, if not for my brothers, anime, music, and this site I would not here, those outlets and distractions were essential. Just the process of writing this has been very rewarding for me, it's like my AA. I mention this because I put a lot of my experiences into this and in future chapters they'll be a lot of heavy subject matter, that's were it'll be coming from. I'll put warnings up for anything serious to avoid triggers.


	6. Chapter 6: Hook

Chapter 6: Hook

Kaito led Aiden into the natatorium through the locker rooms. It was dark. The water reflected the different colored lights coming in from the glass windows. Amber, green, blue and red shimmered across the tranquil water. Mesmerizing.

"Any man would be lucky to have you look at him the way you look at the water," Kaito said snapping Aiden out of her trance.

"Shut up," she muttered pushing him back. _Huh?! Am I that comfortable with him already?_ He chuckled and shoved her back apparently too hard because she stepped back too far bringing her to the extreme edge of the pool. She lost her balance and made a huge splash.

"OHHH Shit!" Kaito cried fighting back laughter. Aiden came up and took a huge breath. She wasn't even mad, she _couldn't_ be mad. It was too refreshing. He held his hand out to help her out, she took it and said "You jerk," in a low voice feigning anger.

"I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to do that," he said trying and failing to keep a straight face.

"Sure you didn't," she said as she struggled to remove the blazer clinging to her body. She was drenched and water was showering down off of her making her clothes heavy. "Don't worry about it. I'll be sure to get you back later, but you should go now in case anyone comes."

"You're right," he said reluctantly. It was tempting to stay but he didn't want to be caught in that situation if it could affect his position on the swim team. He had his priorities in order. As he left he turned at the exit and called out, "I will see you again."

"Prefecturals, I'll be rooting against you," she affirmed.

As soon as he was out of sight she eagerly began peeling off layers of clothing; socks, cardigan, tie, shirt, tank top and finally her skirt. Clad in nothing but her black lace bra and panties she positioned herself on starting block four. Unbeknownst to her at that moment someone entered the natatorium. Her face was the very image of focus. In her mind she counted down from ten and when she reached zero she pushed off the starting block. Her entry was beautiful in perfect form. Her fingertips carved an entry into the crisp water and she gracefully slipped through it at precisely the right angle, shoulder blades touching and her head tucked in between her arms perfectly streamline. She let the water engulf her being and immediately went into dolphin kicking. She went more than halfway across the pool before she began swimming the front crawl. The intruder drew closer, watching closely. On the turn she shifted into the backstroke, her head perfectly still as her limbs and body worked in sync cutting through the water with grace and power. It was her second favorite stroke, it felt right. On the next turn she began swimming fly but stopped at the center of the pool. All the while unaware of the pair of red eyes watching her from the side of the pool in shadows.

She floated in the center of the pool breathing heavily. She hadn't stretched, if she'd kept going she would've tired out too quickly so she took it easy and let the water soothe her. Wisps of her long hair were spread out floating around her looking weightless, suspended moving as one with the water. She felt the water flowing around her hair tickling her scalp. She closed her eyes and drifted along with the cool liquid. She relished every tiny splashing, slapping, sloshing and dripping sound. She even appreciated the sound of her own steady breathing and the sound of her blood rushing in her ears with each heartbeat.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing here?" called out the figure with red eyes revealing himself. Her eye twitched in irritation though she pretending not to hear and returned to swimming. She swam free, true free, random whimsical moves under and above water. This annoyed Rin to no end.

"You! Hey you!" Rin paused, "Hey girl, you don't belong in that pool if it takes you more that 40sec on the backstroke…..I'm talking to you!"

He flipped her switch again the instant he mentioned time. She dolphin kicked to the ladder. As she climbed out her hair obscured her face falling forward. Rin couldn't identify her, his only thought was she resembled Sadako from _Ring_ with hair like that as she walked to him keeping her head inclined.

"What exactly are you doing here? This is a private pool," Rin asked with a flair of arrogance. She didn't have to look to know it was Rin. Her heart was beating frantically in her chest, adrenaline was rushing through her body. She assumed a fighting stance bringing her fists up. Not giving Rin time to process her actions, twisting her hips she swung putting all of her weight into a right hook to his face. Her fist collided with his left cheekbone the impact sent him stumbling backwards to fall on his ass.

Finally satisfied Aiden felt lighter. "I was swimming," she said nonchalantly adjusting her bangs and pulling the rest of her hair into a messy bun. Rin was on the ground holding his face, "What the fuck!" he cursed. He was about to go off but when he looked up his arms fell limp at his sides and his eyes grew to the size of saucers.

"Ai?!" he said in disbelief then corrected himself 'cough' "Aiden? What are you doing here?"

"That's the third time you ask the same question, it's obvious. I was clearly swimming, I said that," was her snarky response.

"Why here? Why now?" he asked, then finally noticing her appearance and her undergarments, he gestured at her, "And like that?"

She held a hand out to help him up, "I didn't bring a swimsuit and my clothes got wet."

"Why did you come here? Were you looking for me?" he asked.

"Ha-ha. Now aren't you a little full of yourself? Rin, I saw you several times this afternoon. I came here with the others, I was with them almost the whole time. You were just too busy staring down your girlfriend Haruka to notice anything else," she said sardonically.

Rin growled, "As if I would waste my time on that loser," he spat trying to contain his anger and measure his words, but she was making it very difficult. He didn't want to go off on her after finally reuniting with her, he didn't expect it.

"Hmm that's right. Haru lost that race against you, didn't he? I guess he that does make him a loser, but you don't seem too thrilled about it," Aiden taunted but Rin ignored her, "You haven't explained yourself, where are the others?"

"I wasn't aware I had to explain myself to you," she said defensively but caved, "Whatever….. I snuck out of practice early and hid on the roof until dark. I really just wanted to swim, I didn't think I would run into you. I was really hoping I wouldn't run into you actually." _Ouch._

"Oh….." was all Rin could offer. He couldn't blame her for wanting to avoid him, but he felt rejected; it stung. She left him standing and returned to starting block four.

"Race me."

Rin whipped his head up to the girl on the starting block. He was hesitant.

"Race me. Or is that something you reserve only for Haruka?" she taunted.

"Fine!" Rin growled and started shedding his layers, he still had his swimming tights on. Aiden fetched her phone, she saw twelve missed calls, six texts, a couple emails and six voicemails all from Makoto. She ignored the alerts and opened a stopwatch alarm app. Rin took his spot at starting block five. She set the count to thirty seconds.

"Free or fly?" she asked Rin. "Free," he replied automatically, as expected, though Aiden would have preferred butterfly. "I'm starting this and setting it on the ground, it starts beeping at five seconds and blares at zero that is when we go. 100m free, agreed?" she said and climbed back onto starting block four.

"Agreed," Rin said snapping the back strap of his googles and getting into position. The seconds stretched and when the alarm finally sounded they pushed off at the same instant. While Rin's height took him farther initially, Aiden's kick carried her several meters ahead of him. Rin was shocked, he had definitely underestimated her. He pushed harder each stroke to catch up which proved to be more challenging than he expected. Aiden was a meter ahead but he was quickly gaining on her and he passed her shortly before the turn. The turn put them neck to neck but half way down the last stretch Rin took the lead. Aiden's muscles were screaming but she pressed on and forced herself to slice through the water at a faster rate but she had already fallen behind. Rin touched the wall first and slapped the water triumphantly. A little over a second later Aiden finished panting heavily.

"Yes!" Rin exclaimed and then condescendingly addressed her, "Sorry Ai, did you expect to win? At least you tried." She looked at him skeptically while fixing her hair.

"Win? Wipe that smug grin off your face you cocky bastard," Rin flinched at her choice of words. She said matter-of-factly, "You beat me by, what? Two seconds. That's not much considering I don't train every day like you." Rin's whole demeanor darkened. "Fuckin' brat," he huffed. He couldn't deny the truth in her statement. She clearly was at a disadvantage to begin with: her hair, her clothes, her shoulders were narrow, she had some lean muscle but was far too thin, her impressive cleavage was hardly hydrodynamic and her height was below average. All in all it didn't add up to the best recipe for a good swimmer.

"Lighten up Rin-chan, it's not you, it's me," she said sarcastically, "come on let's swim, you're gonna make the water sad." She tugged at his arm and swam away slicing through the water backwards, twisting around just being spontaneous. Rin just admired her from afar before reluctantly joining her. When he came near her she yelled, "Shark!" and swam away. "And you're a goddamn jelly! Fuckin' poisonous brat, come here!" he cursed trying to catch her.

"Senpai! Are you in here Matsuoka-senpai?" a boy called out coming out of the locker rooms. Rin and Aiden froze, Nitori came to the side of the pool seeing that Rin was there, "Matsuoka-senpai I was—" the boy started but choked on his words when he realized his senpai was holding on to a girl in the water, now a deep shade of red he sputtered, "Oh! Senpai it was nothing! I'll be going. I'm sorry." Aiden quickly put distance between them and the grey haired boy ran away.

"That's my cue," Aiden said before swimming to the starting blocks and pulling herself out. Rin followed closely behind and tried not to stare at her rear as she bent down to pick up her phone. Rin got out of the pool and shook the water out of his hair. "I'm going home," Aiden told him as she gathered her wet clothes, "it's after eleven but I think there is still a few more trains before the end of the night."

"You can't go like that," Rin said but at the same moment all the lights suddenly came on. Captain Seijuro came in and walked up to them with a serious expression, "Matsuoka, what is this? Hey aren't you from Iwatobi?" Rin and Aiden looked at each other and then at the captain.

"Uhhh, maybe I should explain," Aiden said trying to look innocent, which worked because the captain softened. "I broke in to take a swim in your pool since I wasn't included in the joint practice. Then this one here found me and I challenged him to a race. Sorry. I was just leaving, I will accept any consequences."

While Aiden was taking all the blame Rin was taking a good look at her body. Not because he was admiring it, but because of the disturbing fading bruises and scars all over her body, one particular prominent scar across her left ribcage and the bruises on her neck stood out to him. It looked like someone had tried to strangle her recently and it sparked something in him. He picked up his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. The captain gave him a nod of approval at the gesture.

"Who won?" Seijuro asked as if that was the most relevant thing she had mentioned.

"Rin-chan," Aiden answered. Rin growled at his name.

"HAHAHA! Good job Matsuoka! Look here —"

"Aiden," she state.

"Aiden….the faculty doesn't know you're here, and you haven't really caused any trouble so I won't sell you out but don't do this again. Next time come to me during practice and I'll make sure you get a chance to swim. But I have to ask you to leave. Matsuoka can you make sure she makes it off campus?"

Rin looked at the girl for a second, "Yeah, I'm taking her to the dorms first so she can borrow some clothes, we can't send her home like that."

"You're right, but you're on your own if you get caught," Seijuro smiled, "It was nice to meet you Aiden-chan. Take care," he winked and walked away chuckling.

"That guy," Rin groaned when Seijuro was gone.

* * *

"Nitori. Aiden. Aiden. Nitori." Rin said to pass as an introduction before grabbing clothes and leaving to change, only to come back a minute later in jeans, a t-shirt and a jacket.

The room was so simple it was obvious their lives were centered on swimming, it was made up of a bunk bed, a couple of desks, a nightstand and a closet which Rin was rummaging through. Nitori shyly looked down at Aiden from the top bunk as she patiently stood there waiting. For her the boy was the most adorable little thing. It felt like a long time but it was most likely only a minute or two when Rin finally tossed a wad of clothes at her.

"Nitori, let's go," Rin commanded, "Ai, I'll be outside when you're ready." She nodded and waited for the boys to exit. He gave her a pair of black sweatpants with a drawstring, a pair of boxer briefs that still had the tag on them, a tank top and a long sleeved shirt and a jacket similar to the one her gave her at the pool only much smaller. All of it was too small to be Rin's. She put it all on and it was still very baggy on her. Nitori clearly wasn't as small as he seemed. She gathered the rest of her things and left the grey haired boy a note that read: _Thanks for the clothes, I'll send them back. P.s. You're so cute 3._ Outside the door Rin was leaning against the wall but his roommate was nowhere to be seen.

"Thanks for the clothes, I really should go now. I need to catch the train," she said and started walking off but Rin caught her wrist.

"I'm walking you home, you can't be out this late alone," Rin said firmly in a rough tone. She started to resist but Gou and the others came to mind.

"Whatever if you're coming let's go," she said pulling her wrist back.

* * *

The train station wasn't far, but the short walked was thick with tension. This wasn't the reunion Rin had invisioned so many years ago. Whatever that light feeling had been in the water was gone, granted it wasn't much. He never imagined the storm of emotions brewing in him. He was feeling shame, defeat, oddly excited, embarrassment, motivated, proud, and none of it made any sense. None of it except for the pride. He never thought he would see Ai again let alone see her swim again. He was proud she had become as good as she was, he was after all the one who kept her on that path, or sent her on it he was never sure. She had grown into a graceful swimmer and a beautiful woman, more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, but she was very different, then again, so was he.

He finally spoke up when the train station came into view, "I heard you moved to Canada, did you keep swimming out there?" Aiden stopped, Rin took a few steps before he noticed and turned around, "What?"

"No, turn around and walk back to your dorm if you're gonna do this."

"Do what?"

Aiden sighed, "Pretend like you didn't just ditch me without an explanation and start asking me about my life as if it interests you."

"It does interest me," he said honestly, but he couldn't offer up an excuse for abandoning her.

"It doesn't matter either way, I'm not holding grudge, and most of my resentment is swelling up on your left cheek right now. I just need you to tell me exactly why the fuck I was the only one left in the dark," she started walking. The station was close. Rin walked beside his hands digging into his pockets as he struggled to find the words to explain himself.

In a low voice he said with little emotion, "Ai. I can't say I didn't mean to hurt you, I knew what I was doing. I thought about saying goodbye but couldn't especially not after the thing with your mom," he noticed her stiffen, "If I told you and had you asked me to stay it would've been worse. I had to focus and you were just a distraction. The next year I asked for you Haru told me you moved to Canada. I didn't think I would see you again."

"Bullshit," she said but with no real malice, "Be straight with me, it had nothing to do with focus or my mother. Just admit you were a weak kid. You just didn't want to deal with an uncomfortable situation or the emotions that came with it. You were a coward." Rin shot her a dark pained look then hid his eyes. It stung. She was very good at that. She waited for him to say something but they reached the station before he did. She looked into his red eyes and a much softer voice said, "You're a stupid coward. I would have never asked you to stay," Rin's eyes widened at this, "You were just a dumb kid chasing a dream that wasn't even yours. I got that a long time ago, I don't hold that against you. Honestly I stopped caring after a while," she turned away to the stairwell, "I just think a goodbye hug would have been nice…" Rin felt a wave of bittersweet relief, that is, until she turned the knob on the door. She turned to him one last time, "So I guess you're still chasing your dad's dream?"

"I am," he stated with conviction, he stared at the door, he wasn't ready to part ways.

"Well you know how I feel about that, you need to follow your own dream. Regardless, if you don't get your shit together you'll never get anywhere," another sting, she was poison why did he want to stick around? She gave him a warm smile and he remembered why, she _almost_ looked like her old self. Her smile was missing something. "Sorry for causing you trouble but thanks for walking me. Goodnight," She turned and walked up the steps to the platform. Rin watched the door close behind her. It occurred to him exactly how different she was. He wanted to know her again. For once he longed for something that didn't have to do with his father, his dream or the water. So when he heard the train stop he didn't second guess himself and ran to the platform. He could argue with himself later, he might not see her again.

"I said I was walking you home," Rin said with a smirk, having hopped on the train with time to spare.

"Suit yourself, you'll have to walk all the way back, this is the last train."

"Perfect, I didn't get to jog tonight. This girl broke into the natatorium and I had to put her in her place," he mocked.

"Oh look who's all perky now. You can hardly call that putting me in my place, and we didn't even time it," she said putting him down again. She suddenly remembered the timer and pulled out her phone she never checked all those messages again.

"You just don't want to admit you still can't beat me," he huffed, she wasn't paying attention to him, he continued, "You're fast. You've obviously been swimming somewhere. Are you swimming with Haru? You told Mikoshiba you weren't included in the practice, you aren't on the swim team are you? My sister didn—"

"Can you please kindly shut the fuck up, I'm trying to listen to a message here," she snapped. There were now eleven voicemails she was trying to get through, she was currently on the fifth. Mako sounded more frantic with each one. They were all the same, just checking to see if she was home, is she okay, if there is something wrong she can tell him, please call him when she gets the message.

Rin sat next to her sulking while she checked her messages. He noted her movements, a sigh, a shake of her head, or a press of her palm to her forehead. A strange feeling awakened within him, he couldn't identify it.

They reached her stop before she got through all the messages. On the platform she sent Mako a message: _Just got off the train. Phone was on silent. Will explain tomorrow. I'm fine. Get some rest._

"Alright we can go," she put her phone away and followed Rin, who took the lead. _How nostalgic, _she thought.

"What was all that?" he asked sounding disinterested.

"Makoto. I got like 35 alerts, I guess he got scared when he stopped by my place and I wasn't home." That strange feeling got a little stronger, and he thought back to Makoto earlier. It had been Ai Makoto was hugging, he had forgotten about that completely after watching Haru swim.

"Are you and Makoto dating now? Or?"

"No, where did that come from?" she said slightly taken aback. Did they really come off like that?

"That's a lot of messages for just a friend," he said. That feeling nagged at him when he caught the sight of a light shade of pink dusting her features.

"That's what friends do. Why do you care? At least he actually calls me," she replied defensively. Another sting. That was at least the seventh time that night. He didn't know what to say to defend himself so he said nothing. Her house wasn't far, after five more minutes of tense silence they were at her front door. She went in and left the door wide open. He hesitated but eventually followed her inside. She had disappeared already, it was dark the only light was coming from the kitchen. He slipped his shoes off and went into the living room.

The first thing he noticed about the room was, well everything. Everything was different from what he remembered. The walls were painted blue-grey with black borders, the furniture was modern and they had a good electronics set up, and a bar. The only thing that looked familiar was one of the pianos, an ebony Yamaha studio upright. The other piano looked almost identical except for the fact it was a digital hybrid. Aiden had papers and notes scattered around it and on top, post-it notes were stuck on it. He curiously picked up a few papers, they had random music scribbled on them, lyrics, more of it in English than Japanese some in a language he couldn't read. He came across a familiar thick journal, it had several charms hanging off it. He felt his heart swell up. Hanging off was a poorly constructed bracelet, made out leather and polyester, with two tiny charms of a shark and a jellyfish.

"Don't go through my things," Aiden warned from behind. He put the journal back without mentioning his childish gift. Aiden had changed into flannel pajama pants and a tank top, her hair was down and messy. She looked alluring in Rin's eyes. She walked off to the kitchen and he followed. She pulled a water bottle out of the fridge and handed it to him, "I put your roommate's clothes in the wash, and they should be done in twenty minutes. You should stick around and take them back to him."

"What about your parents?" he asked finally realizing how late it was.

"I live alone," she replied dryly, she shouldn't have to explain, he should know already.

"Bullshit, what's that shit on your neck? Did a ghost do it? That brilliant excuse won't work this time. Where's your mom?" he asked sourly, somewhat fearing the response.

"God you're a fucking idiot. My mom died right after you left. My dad has his own life now, he rarely comes by," she bite out harshly.

"What?! But she was barely sick, they said ten years right? They said she could get better," it wasn't computing.

"No Rin," Aiden shook her head, "She died of an overdose; they said it was an accident, it probably wasn't."

"Hikari-san…." he was at a loss for words. That woman had been very kind and encouraging to him. The only memories he had of her were fond ones, he couldn't imagine she could do something like that. He could guess as to why, and that sent waves of guilt.

"Well you can clearly use a minute," Aiden said coldly, "You can stay here tonight if you want, I don't care as long as you don't go through my work. Sleep wherever, pillows are in the guest room upstairs or in the office."

Rin gave her an empty stare, how can she be so casual about this?

"Cheer up Rin it happened years ago, she was my mom not yours," and she walked off, shouting "Night Sharkboy" from the stairs.

* * *

A/N: Rin is very ooc, sorry. Rin and Aiden reunite. Let me know what you think about the interaction. Their relationship in the past was basically like coach/student and childhood sweethearts? Rin always seemed like an all or nothing type of person to me, so if he was going to have a crush on someone it was going to be all out. Aiden is a jellyfish. Specifically a box jellyfish. More history to come.

Thanks for reading, please review.

Thanks to these lovely people:

szynka2496

missemmzie

Lady My

Kirorokat

GeniusPineapple

Bakashi


	7. Chapter 7: Link

A/N: I wrote this is first person originally, forgive me if its weird. [in the brackets means they are speaking English]

Please enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 7: Link

Aiden bolted out of the front office before the vice-principal had the chance to change his mind. She was supposed to meet Nagi and the rest of the club at the track afterschool and she was already thirty minutes late. She didn't see any of them the entire day, except Nagi who just happened to deliver some papers to the office while she was waiting. She did a lot of waiting, she could've done that staring at the back of Haru's head. She shouldn't have driven Makoto out of her house that morning, because of that she ended up being three hours late. Then when she finally got to school she wasn't even allowed to go to class. Turned out some higher-up faulty member at Samezuka had found out about her little midnight dip in the pool because Rin stayed out all night. Only she didn't get off as easy as the other boys had and she didn't have Ama-chan to back her up. She was used to getting discriminated against, she was, but the whole day was just ridiculous. The assistant to the secretary told her several times that her Japanese was pretty good, why the hell wouldn't it be? They got on her case about her uniform, attendance and other random issues and eventually were even threatening to expel her, no suspension, just straight to expulsion. They didn't let it go until they realized who her dad was and the connection he left for her. She would probably pay the bill later. Damien was a despicable human being but his shitty ways came in handy. It was definitely more for his own sake but he always made sure these types of situations never became an issue for her even if he did it indirectly. Aiden made sure his connection took care of Rin too, she couldn't go jeopardizing his position on the team, and she wouldn't do that to Gou.

When she got to the track Nagisa was attacking Rei. If it was possible for her mood to dampen more, it did.

"Aiden-chan! Look we officially have a new member!" Nagi shouted at her while smothering Rei. She greeted the others first pretending she didn't catch Makoto's worried looks and waited for Nagi to stop molesting Rei before acknowledging him, "Nagi he can't swim. That pretty much makes him useless to your cause." Rei frowned.

"Aiden-chan! That was mean! He is not useless, we'll teach him how to swim."

"Good luck with that, what do you call me here for anyways?"

"We were worried!" Nagisa cried over-dramatically.

"We didn't see you all day, then there were rumors going around you were getting expelled," Mako added.

"My brother's captain called me asking if I knew where he was, and he asked me about you. You broke into their pool? Were you with my brother last night?" Gou sounded almost optimistic.

"What happened Aiden-chan, you can tell us. Spill," Nagi said hanging off her arm.

"Are you in trouble Aiden-kun?" Makoto asked desperately. Haru just stared at her critically. They all waited for her to say something leaning in staring at her with wide eyes unblinking. They had no sense of personal space and knew the best strategy to get the truth was to gang up on her.

"You guys are creepy," Aiden said. She would rather avoid that conversation, if she was having it with anyone it would be Makoto. She wasn't about to have a group therapy session in the middle of the track. Besides talking to Gou would just be awkward and Haru was the equivalent of talking to a wall, only less responsive if that was even possible.

"Come on Aiden-chan! Give us something!" Nagi cried playing with her hair, she slapped his hand away, he was going to feel her wrath one day but the kid was convincing, mostly annoying but it was the same thing, she just wanted him to stop.

"OKAY! I swam in their pool last night but technically I didn't break in. I was someone's 'guest' you could say," Gou lit up, "No it wasn't your brother," Gou instantly looked like a sad puppy, Aiden sighed, why did she have to look so much like her brother?

"What were you doing there so late? You left early and you didn't say anything?" Rei asked butting in.

"Oh well you know, I didn't want to die of embarrassment when you made a fool of yourself so," she said sarcastically and Rei was utterly mortified.

"Aiden!" Makoto warned.

"Okay okay," she said holding her hands up, "Sorry Ryugazaki-kun, I only half meant that."

"Aiden-chan come on! Give us the details," Nagi said tugging at her shirt again. Haru held her gaze for a second with intensity but she couldn't figure out what it meant, then he spoke monotone, "You should tell us. He won't let you go until you do." It was the most he had said to her, she would be an idiot to refuse.

"Fine," she grunted, "but not here."

* * *

"Nagi touch my things and I cut your little grubby fingers off," Aiden yelled from the kitchen. She had not meant for her statement to be an invitation to invade her house. She just didn't want to explain around a bunch of people in short shorts flinging themselves through the air with a pole. Her only consolation was that her audience went from five down to four. She also had the chance to apologize to Makoto on the way to her house. When he went looking for her in the morning he found her curled up in the bathtub in shorts and a tank-top, but she wasn't Haru so for her it wasn't okay for him to go in like that. Well on any other day she probably wouldn't have given it a second thought, but Makoto didn't know that. Point was she did overreact. Afterwards she ended up falling asleep in the bathtub and thus commenced her shitty day.

"Here. Coffee and sweets, have at it," Aiden said setting down a tray with coffee and a strange mix of junk food and candy on the low table in the living room and they dug in. Haru took the cup with the picture of a mackerel on it, he couldn't say she didn't think of him.

"Aiden-chan, it's time to cough up the details," Detective Nagisa said pretending the chocolate biscuit stick hanging out of his mouth was a cigarette.

"What do you want to know?" she asked reluctantly.

"Were you with my brother last night? Did you guys talk?" Gou asked her hopefully.

"And why didn't you tell us anything? What were you doing?" Makoto asked.

"I just wanted to be alone, it really didn't have anything to do with you guys. I wanted to swim. And if you guys are wondering— Kou-chan— I was not looking for Rin," everyone looked slightly disappointed, except for Haru, who for a moment looked like he might begin to smile. Aiden went on to explain her venture to the roof and how she got into natatorium. She told them about Rin sneaking up on her without knowing who she was and how they got caught, but conveniently left out the race, "…..and his roommate lent me some clothes. Rin insisted on walking me home. He came in because I was going to give him some water for the trip back but he found out about my mom. I guess it bothered him. I told him he could stay if he wanted but I didn't stick around to find out, in the morning he was gone so I can't really say when he left." Lies.

* * *

_Eariler that day:_

When she woke up at dawn it was his face she saw staring at her, his fingers playing with her bangs. How long he had knelt at her bedside like that she didn't know but he looked tired. It should have been creepy but it felt natural to her.

"Rin," she said groggily. He 'shh'ed her by pressing a finger to her lips, it lingered there while he watched her a while longer. Finally he spoke somberly "I really missed you," she half-frowned, "Ai I'm sorry I wasn't there when you lost your mom," he then paused and distanced himself from her, "But nothing has changed, you're still just a distraction."

"I get it Rin, just leave," she told him still sounding groggy. She turned over and drifted off not bothering to watch him go. Later after she woke up in the bathtub (how she got there was a mystery) she noticed he had lit incense in the abandoned butsudan in front of an empty picture frame where her mother's picture should've been. A touching gesture. She also noticed he took the bracelet that was on her journal with him. _Make up your mind Rin._

* * *

"What? That's all?" Nagi asked with his mouth full.

"He didn't say anything to you?" Gou asked.

"Not really," Aiden said avoiding Haru's gaze.

"Did he tell you why? Did he give you a reason?" Makoto asked, she knew she was referring to why he ditched her.

"Actually he did," everyone leaned in, "he said I was just a distraction. Something about focus. I guess since I wasn't swimming a relay with him I was just in the way, or at least that's how I see it."

"Aww Aiden-chan!" Nagi said giving her bone-crushing hug.

"I'm sorry about my brother, he's changed a little. I'm sure once he gets to swim with everyone again everything will be better," Gou gave Aiden a warm smile. While Aiden highly doubted that she went along with it. She pretended that fact didn't bother her.

They laughed and planned for the coming weeks, it was getting warmer and soon they could start using their own pool for practice. Nagisa ate most of the candy and eventually crashed from the sugar high but not before forcing Aiden to play them a song. She gladly accepted, mainly because music was her release and she needed release. She chose to play a song that resonated with her that most in that moment and one that she knew Nagi would get a kick out of.

She chose her own transcription of "_Tanguera_" by Mariano Mores that was combined with her transcription of a remix of the very same song from the film _Moulin Rouge! _titled "_El Tango de Roxanne._" Tango was something that was special to her, empowering, and naturally so, it was in her blood. Whenever she got the chance she danced or watched others dance, in Tokyo she had plenty of chances. When she didn't have the dance what she had was the music, and every time she played it she lost herself in every note. Her fingers did their own complicated dance across the keys and she swayed with every delicate stroke. She hardly noticed when Nagi pulled Gou into a dance that was supposed to resemble the tango. She was absorbed in the intensity of the music, it held the essence of the dance, passion, not in the sexual sense, just raw intense emotion and a sense of intimacy. The music was push and pull, up and down, abrupt halts, and soothing melody that all gave her goosebumps. As the song crescendoed and her fingers banged on the keys with increasing intensity and heightened emotion she finally felt her imaginary tears falling.

_Just a distraction. Right._

* * *

Over the next few days they became a group of six, a tight-knit group of six that somehow always ended up at either Aiden's house or Haru's house. They both lived alone so it made sense but it was still bothersome, and Aiden wasn't even technically apart of the team. Secretly she was glad to have them over the pack was growing on her, even the speedo kid.

So afterschool on a particularly cloudy afternoon Aiden was sprawled out on the floor in her living room was trying her best to pay attention to Gou who was on the table with papers in four neat stacks, but the girl was talking too fast.

"….and since you went to nationals you should know a thing or two."

"Say what?!" Aiden shot straight up.

"I said since you went to na—"

"SHHH! I got that! Quiet!" Aiden whispered pointing to the boys loudly playing video games on the couch behind them.

"What? What's wrong with you going to nationals?" Gou asked innocently but it happened to have gone very quiet at that moment. Aiden buried her head in her hands. Haru had his mouth barely open in surprise, while Nagisa and Rei turned around at once, "EHHHH?"

"Aiden-chan, what is she talking about?" Nagi asked.

"She went to the high school national championships a year ago, she even broke tournament records," Gou explained, "Only she dropped out of all of her events on the last day, including the relay. Aiden-senpai, why was that?" Aiden still had her face buried in her hands, Makoto was listening in but he wasn't facing them. He had waited to bring this up, he was glad he wasn't the one that had to do it but he knew it wasn't fair to do this to her in front of everyone.

"Aiden-chan, what's wrong?" Nagi asked rubbing her back, "You can talk to us."

"You guys can stay as long as you want," Aiden said and got up and left to her room.

Everyone was a little confused about what to do and just stood there awkwardly. Makoto was resisting the urge to chase after her. Gou noticed.

"Go to her, she'll talk to you," she assured him.

* * *

Aiden went directly to her room changed into pajamas and burrowed into bed. It wasn't that she was all that upset about them finding out, she figured Mako and Haru already knew something. She just didn't want to explain. It was embarrassing. She knew they would try to parallel her situation to Rin's and it wasn't the same. Things had been going well since the night with Rin, she had the club to thank for that. She and Gou were even getting closer, sometimes Gou would drop the –senpai and use –chan instead. Aiden didn't want their opinion of her to change, the thought of ruining everything was too much. So she escaped to the comfort of her nest.

Makoto walked into her room, knocking once. Without saying anything he sat next to her curled up figure. He petted her head for a while, it soothed her. _Mmm, he certainly knows how to work me by now_. She finally turned around to face him. _My, does he look handsome right now, sneaky, _she thought as he rubbed his thumb against her cheek.

"You knew already didn't you," she said quietly, he nodded, "Thank you for not saying anything."

"I wanted to. Why did you quit? You were doing great, I kept track of every race I could," he asked her with a concerned face.

"Lots of reasons. I didn't have a dream, or any goals, I was just swimming. The other girls had dreams, some of them depended on that tournament. So I got out of the way," _I also may or may not have gotten caught high and drunk off my ass at a party the night before the tournament. _"I didn't have any support, I wasn't swimming for anyone and I wasn't even swimming for me. I didn't know what I was doing or why I was doing it so I quit."

"I was supporting you from afar," Makoto smiled.

"Thanks for that. I missed you guys. I missed _you_. I was pretty lonely. I felt lonely in the water that was the worst. I just needed to come home," she said looking away holding his hand. He snaked his arm around her waist and picked her up into a hug she gladly returned. "I missed you too," he said softly and carefully he added, "Ryuu." She clung to him tighter and she whispered a small 'thank you' before pulling away.

"Why don't you join us?" Makoto asked hopefully, when she gave him a skeptical look he added, "You don't have to compete if you don't want to, you can help Kou-chan. If you do compete you might help us get funded, but that would only be if you wanted to… what do you say?"

"I don't know," Aiden said conflicted, it was Makoto asking so she had to consider it. She wanted to help them, but was she worth the trouble? If she agreed she couldn't promise she wouldn't let them down.

"It would be different Aiden-kun, we are here to support you, I'm here," he told her. It sounded convincing, even if there others weren't there Makoto was enough. She thought back to her race with Rin and remembered how exhilarating it had felt, it reminded her that she missed the competition. She still had time to decide whether to sign up for prefecturals so she didn't have to agree to that right then.

"Join us," Haru said from the doorway, Mako and Aiden turned to see him in surprise. It was enough to convince Aiden, if even cold Haruka wanted to keep her around how could she say no?

"I'll join the club," she said looking back and forth between both boys. Makoto face was going to split in half and Haru gave her a satisfied nod before leaving.

"Alright that's enough emotional nonsense for the evening. Videos Games. Now. Let's go," Aiden said pulling Makoto along with more strength than someone her size should possess.

* * *

Rin was out for his nightly jog. He was trying to clear his head, it was cluttered with negative thoughts, unwanted memories and doubts. His feet hit the pavement a little harder and faster with each step as if he could outrun his own mind. He didn't realize it but he was subconsciously going in the direction of Iwatobi Elementary. In his pocket he held the bracelet he made for Aiden as a kid.

His sister had sent him several messages, most of which he usually ignored but she sent him links to articles about Aiden. She told him about her swimming career and that she was joining the swim club. Seeing Aiden's success threw him into a spiral of conflicting emotions. He was both proud and envious of her. He still hadn't truly beaten Haru and he felt like he was stuck. He needed to focus on beating Haru so that he could move on. Yet all he could think about were all of his shortcomings and how much he must've hurt Aiden. He wasn't there when she needed him most. _Him_. When she would have needed _him_. Not Makoto, or anyone else. He was the only person that would have understood her, but he dumped her without warning. Yet she kept swimming, she kept living, he envied that kind of strength. So why did she quit? Why start up again? Why was she such a distraction? He didn't want to push her away but he had to focus, he had to beat Haru. Why couldn't he focus when she was around? But Rin already knew the answer.

"Regardless, if you don't get your shit together you'll never get anywhere" Her words kept echoing in his head. She spoke the truth and it pissed him off. How is he supposed to get it together now? It would have been better if she had stayed in the past instead of coming back to just to make him lose his head. Only he didn't really believe that. In Australia when he was hit with disappointment after disappointment, it was her unwavering support he craved the most and the memory of her smiling face and encouraging words is what kept him going. But after he lost to Haru that year and he told him she had moved back to Canada he became colder and tried his best to put her out of his mind. So why couldn't he do it now? The image of Makoto hugging Aiden came to his mind.

In elementary school Makoto and Rin were close friends, they were both social butterflies and they got along grandly. Aiden was always near one of them. When they competed she was the loudest in the crowd cheering them on. When they swam against each other she supported them both equally. Makoto and Aiden were always closer because they were neighbors and had known each other longer. But Aiden and Rin shared a secret, he helped train her for competitions, to the others he was just teaching her how to swim. But he had always been jealous of Makoto especially after he found out the boy had a crush on his neighbor. Suddenly after that every action took on a different meaning. So when he thought of that hug at Samezuka he knew that now that they were older it wouldn't be long before Makoto made his move. How could he blame his old teammate? Aiden had really grown up, they all had, but she was something else, at least in Rin's eyes. She had always been beautiful, he thought so the first time he saw her. She looked different from the rest of their classmates, he couldn't tell where she was from. It was a mysterious kind of beauty and he was captivated.

Rin tightened his grasp on the bracelet in his pocket and thought back to the day he first met Aiden:

**_Over five years ago_**

When he saw the girl sitting under a naked tree he walked over and sat next to her. She had a Band-Aid on her cheek and was writing something in English in the dirt with a stick. It was the same thing over and over. _Fire is Alive_.

"[Fire is Alive]" he read aloud. The girl noticed him, she looked sad. With her foot she erased the words.

"[You speak English?]" She asked. The boy grinned, "[A little. I'm Rin Matsuoka, I just transferred today. My name is girly, but I'm a boy. Who are you?]"

"[My name is Aiden Ryuu Cole-Rojas, but my friends just call me Ryuu. My name isn't very girly but I'm a girl,]" she replied shyly, smiling at her own joke.

"You're really pretty," Rin said shamelessly, the girl blushed furiously, "Can I call you Ai? I think it's better than a boy name."

"Ai?" she asked.

"Ai [A-i] the first two letters of Aiden in English right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"The kanji for Ai means love. That's a nickname in English isn't it? So that will be your nickname," he grinned as the girl turned three shades darker and muttered "You don't even know me."

"I will," he stated confidently, he was smitten.

"Okay." She gave in quickly, "What were you talking to my friends about earlier?"

"Those were your friends?"

"Yeah Mako-chan is, Haru-chan is too I guess"

"That Nanase is scary huh?" he said lightheartedly

"Hmm, yeah, he's a meany. But he's probably just weirded out that you transferred here."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well you're always at the same tournaments right? You're the one that always beats Mako-chan in the 50m breaststroke," she said timidly.

"You go to those? You remember me?" Rin asked enthusiastically. How could he not have noticed her before?

"Of course, you're sharkboy," she giggled.

"Ehh?"

"You know because of your teeth. I think you're kinda cute," she said with a warm smile, Rin blushed deeply. "But Haru-chan is a meany, he won't teach me how to swim like him, and he always ignores me. He's like that so don't let him hurt your feelings."

"I'll teach you."

* * *

Rin was jogging through the park in the third district very much aware of his destination now. Just the memory made his cheeks flush and stomach flutter. He felt stupid, childish. He shook his head and increased his speed as he was going around a bend. In the distance was another figure running and as he caught up to it he quickly realized who it was simply because he had stared at that rear end for too long and saved the image in his mind shamelessly. He couldn't decide if he had complete shit for luck or if it was some angel looking out for him. He sped up to her pace and stayed by her side his destination forgotten. Aiden noticed him but didn't acknowledge him. They jogged like that for another twenty minutes all the while pushing each other to go harder until they reached her front door. Once there she went in and left the door open for him to follow.

"Why are you following me?" she asked him handing him a sports drink in the kitchen. Rin hungrily swallowed half of the bottle's contents before responding, "I wasn't." Aiden's eye twitched, she wasn't in the mood. She had already done her training for the competition for the day the only reason she had gone out was to get rid of some of her frustration. Her dad's company called her, she's expected to show up at some banquet with a date, apparently she needs to make Damien look good. Running into Rin (literally) wasn't helping.

"Ugh, whatever. Just go home," she said getting a drink for herself and then discretely swallowed three little white pills.

"My sister told me you joined the club," he commented staying put.

"What about it?" she asked sounding more worn out than defensive.

"Are you going to compete?"

"Why do you ask? Are you going to ask to be my coach? No thanks," she said condescendingly.

"No, I was going to ask for another race," he told her with an edge.

"Aren't you too obsessed with Haru to think about anything else? You should focus on that," she said walking out of the kitchen he followed her. When she ignored him he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her into the wall in the hallway. His face dangerously close to hers he said in a husky voice, "Come on Ai. Don't be so cold."

"That's rich coming from you," she said in monotone looking very unamused by their current position. He rested his forehead on her bare shoulder, she flinched.

"Ai, give me a proper race. You're driving me mad," he said strained, his hot breath hitting her exposed skin. The meaning behind that statement was unclear to her and made her highly uncomfortable. She wanted him off, "With conditions." Rin's head shot up to look into her eyes, mere inches from her face. "If you beat Haru, I'll race you on your terms. If I beat your time in the 100m free in my 100 fly, you have to do something for me." Rin looked perplexed for a second before wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug, "Deal." It was a cheap excuse to steal a hug, but it felt great. He didn't want to let go. She hesitantly wrapped her arms around his waist and he pressed her face into his chest. Why did he smell so attractive? It was weird to her, the whole situation was.

"Umm…are you done? We're both sweaty," she said muffled into his chest and he reluctantly let go. "Rin you are without a doubt a huge dork."

"What?! Where the hell did that come from?"

"It's nothing, go back to your dorm. I don't want to get in trouble again. Wait till your sister hears about this," Aiden said starting to go up the stairs.

"You're not telling her about this," Rin commanded as she disappeared up the stairs. He wouldn't hear the end of it if Aiden told his sister. What was he doing anyways? Isn't this the exact opposite of what he was supposed to be doing? He growled and knocked his head against the wall. _What. The. Fuck. Is. Wrong. With .Me. _

* * *

A/N: Oh man. Did you like it? I have trouble making Rin sound like Rin. Next two chapters are a fun surprise yay! I've been waiting for it. You'll also see Gou and Aiden's relationship bloom which is important.

Search up "braian marasca tanguera" - 2:46 and "mariano oliva tango de roxanne"-4:28 on you tube. If you put them together you can hear more or less what Aiden was playing in this chapter. It was the closest thing I could find to what I saw live. That Braian Marasca gives me chills.

Thank you to the lovely people your reviews are encouraging:

**missemmzie**

**honeycomb198**

Thanks for reading. Leave a review!


	8. Chapter 8: Sinker

**A/N:**This chapter is dialogue galore. I apologize in advance. I rewrote this four times, it's still eh. This is the longest chapter so far. Lots of girl bonding time yay!

* * *

Chapter 8: Sinker

The day before the club was supposed to start practice in their own pool Gou was studying at Aiden's place. Dinner was long over; Aiden made something different for Gou, pollo guisado and black beans. Now both girls were at the low table with different books and papers scattered in front of them. They had hit a lull in their study session. Gou was bored and fed up with studying and Aiden wasn't even working anymore, she was far too absorbed in cell phone.

"Weren't you supposed to tutor Makoto-senpai in English today?" Gou asked with a cheek pressed into her math book.

"Hmm….he…" Aiden said leaving long, awkward pauses in her response as she texted on her phone, "He had…..I think…he had to…look after his siblings….or something…" Gou sighed, "Oh," before getting up and abandoning her homework.

The redhead wandered over to her senpai's musical workspace. Over the past week it had gotten more and more crowded with new equipment. Gou curiously stroked the piano keys and picked at various other things; penciled in music sheets, post-its, a metronome, different headphones, and a small portable synthesizer. Fascinating. Gou didn't personally know many people who played an instrument, let anyone who played an instrument with so many gadgets. She wondered what everything did. She went on to curiously press random buttons and turn knobs on a complicated looking device connected to the piano. It wasn't on so she looked for the power button but there were so many and the device was covered in different colored tape with handwritten English labels. She just about pressed every button before she got fed up, she didn't even know what it was for. Her senpai wasn't paying attention to her and didn't offer any help.

"Hey, Aiden-chan, what's this for?" The older girl glanced up for a brief second before returning to her phone and absent-mindedly responding, "It's a sound mixer."

"What about all this stuff?" Gou asked pointing to organized piles of cords and other electronic equipment. "Just sound equipment, mics, cords and stuff," she answered without looking her way.

"What's all this for anyways?" Gou asked slightly annoyed, she didn't like being ignored.

"Huh?" Aiden asked looking up as if taking notice of her for the first time.

"All this stuff. What is it for?"

"Oh…that. I do gigs sometimes. My sets are a mix of piano and a lot of electronic dance music. That's just all the mixing equipment I use," she said casually before once again returning to her phone.

"What, so you're like a DJ?! You play gigs? Where? Why didn't we know about this?" Gou asked excitedly trying to keep her senpai's attention. It was reminiscent of speaking to her brother.

"Not exactly, I'm more like a live PA/producer, but that all makes it sound so complicated," Aiden said setting her phone down (much to Gou's relief), "I just play and mix music, mostly at parties, sometimes at more formal events but nothing major really, save for a club I played at a few times. I usually just do it as a favor or when I need some extra money so I didn't think it was a big deal. I didn't think to say anything I guess…..You look surprised," Aiden said becoming increasingly self-conscious because of how baffled Gou looked.

"Oh, no it's not that. It's just, you don't seem like the type of person who would do that type of thing," Gou then brought a hand to her chin thoughtfully, "I guess we wouldn't know what types of things you would do. What kind of person is Aiden-chan? I wonder. We really haven't gotten to catch up with you since you transferred... You know you're a lot like my brother."

"Yeah... no. I'm gonna stop you right there. Don't take this the wrong way but I am not like your brother. I'm not going against who I am or trying to be someone else. I'm just not that open, but that doesn't mean I'm hiding either," Aiden said as nicely as she could but Gou's shoulders still slumped ever so slightly. Aiden was reaching a hand out to comfort her when her phone started ringing and she quickly answered it. Gou watched her senpai speak lively to whoever was on the line. Gou wanted her brother to be his old self again so she knew Aiden wasn't wrong, but Aiden was wrong about one thing, she was hiding she just didn't realize it.

Gou went back to snooping around Aiden's workspace while her senpai was finishing her conversation. She opened the drawer to the sleek table the mixer was sitting on, and immediately shut it. She thought it must've been private because there were a bunch of prescription bottles and a particularly large one half full of orange pills that was open. She never knew her senpai took medicine, or maybe it was someone else's.

"Of course. I'll tell them. Okay I'll send you the information, see you then. Bye," Aiden hastily hung up and let out a long sighed. Gou eyed her suspiciously.

"Who have you been talking to this whole time?" Gou asked, she's never seen her that animated for that long.

"Remember that guy from Samezuka? The one from the roof." Gou's eyes widened, "The dreamy one? Yes! When did you start talking to him?"

"Well he's actually been sending me messages since that night, but we've been talking a lot more since the night your….." Aiden trailed off. _Since the night your brother decided to challenge me._

"Since when?"

"Since the other night….he asked me to do a gig for his friend's party. That's what all that stuff is. Some third year at the academy is throwing a big birthday party this weekend, he's inviting students from some school for international students. He's seen me play before and really enjoyed it, so I guess this is Kaito-san's present to him."

"Aiden! That's so exciting," Gou said before realizing something, "Wait, are you and him, you know, like, a thing, or?" Gou asked thinking of two people who would not take kindly to that, her brother being one of them. This wouldn't help him at all especially not if it was that guy, he was a worthwhile rival, and she was sure they were on the same team.

"No, and it's not for his lack of trying. But he is really fun to talk to and really nice to look at… Anyways this is a gig, he's just covering a song with me and I am getting paid, really well actually. But I do get to enjoy the party afterwards. My set is fairly short. That reminds me he insisted on inviting the club, you in particular, something about a captain I wasn't paying attention. You think the club should go?"

"Hmm, I don't know. Their competition would be there no doubt," Gou said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, so would your brother or so I'm told," Aiden added. A bell went off in Gou's head "We're going! We are going to support you and watch you play. This is going to be so much fun!"

"That's fine with me, well if you can even get those boys to go," Aiden said fearing whatever plan Gou was concocting in her head.

"We won't tell them until the day of, that way they can't refuse. Well except for Nagi, he'll make sure it happens, that brat is good for that—WAIT," Gou jerked her head back to look at her senpai, backtracking in her mind, "Hold on, you said covering a song with him. You're covering a song with Mr. Dreamy?!"

"Yes?…" Aiden responded awkwardly, "I said it was his friend's birthday, when he found out I was doing a cover he offered to do the guitar piece. We are actually supposed to meet tomorrow after practice to figure out his part…Is that a problem?"

"Oh! No. Not at all. I look forward to seeing it…" Gou said trailing off. Thinking about what it meant for the club if some prince charming went and swept her senpai off her feet and took her away. She wanted to be excited for Aiden but she also wanted to be selfish. She was torn.

"Kou-chan," Aiden said getting Gou's full attention, "Don't worry. I'm not going leaving the club. We're just working together, it's a job. Kaito-san happens to be Makoto's competition, so I'll be sure to study him closely. I promise I'll try to squeeze out as much information as I can about their other swimmers while I'm at it, okay?"

"Yes! That would be great," Gou cried relieved, gears turning in her head with an almost sinister look appearing on her face.

"Gggreeat. Well now, if you're done thinking of all the sadistic ways you can take advantage of me, we should get back to work. Since tomorrow is our first day in the pool we need to get the routines ready. I'm done with homework anyways," Aiden said shuffling papers around. Gou stuck a paper in her face. "What's this?"

"It's my brother's old training regimen. I found it when I was cleaning." Aiden took the paper and read through it, "Hmm. Your right."

"Do you think it's good to start with tomorrow?" Gou asked hopefully.

"He had me on one very similar to this before. I think its fine. This won't work for Rei. After we teach him how to swim he'll have to build up to this and he doesn't have a lot of time," Aiden said deep in thought. That boy was too much trouble. He was far too confident and she wasn't entirely sure how to go about fixing that. It wasn't going to mix well with the water she was sure of it. Her only solution would be to knock him down a peg. If anyone could shatter his confidence it would certainly be her, however she wasn't too sure that Makoto and the others would approve.

"We'll teach him how to swim first and then we'll worry about that," Gou reassured her, "What about you, is this okay for you? You've done this before so you can keep up with the boys, right?"

"No. I'm doing my own regimen. I have to work a lot harder than those guys, well…maybe not necessarily harder but I definitely have to work a lot more and differently because my body wasn't built for swimming to begin with and, _ahem_, a certain someone decided to sign me up for _six_ events," Aiden ended sarcastically.

"You said I could sign you up!" Gou professed defensively.

"Yeah, when I said 'sign me up for whatever' I did not mean sign me up for 'everything.' Regardless most of my events are more about endurance anyways so I would have had to train more than them anyways. I've already been doing that on my own. I've lost so much muscle in this past year, so I've been trying to get in shape again," Aiden said as another head of red hair coming to mind.

"Aiden-chan you'll do fine so don't worry. There's no pressure. Those boys need to get into shape too, I'm going to crack down on them with a vengeance they won't expect," Gou said smiling. That smile. It reminded Aiden too much of her brother. The past few days Aiden had debated whether to tell Gou about her little encounter with Rin. That crooked smile tipped the scale. Aiden began to care about Gou like a little sister, distantly but the sentiment was there. She didn't enjoy watching Gou suffer and the girl needed her brother back.

"Gou. I mean, Kou I need to tell you something, but you have to promise to keep it between us." Gou looked bewildered but prompted her to continue. So Aiden told her about the jog with Rin, his strange behavior and his request, "So the deal is he beats Haru we race. I beat his time he does something for me. But I'll be honest I don't fully understand him." Gou listened intently and couldn't say she fully understood her brother either, but she had a guess about what his actions meant. He clearly wanted to be close to his childhood sweetheart or at least that's what it seemed like to her. Gou had an inkling about how her brother used to feel about Aiden. But he just left her like that as if she meant nothing, things didn't add up.

"What happened between you two? What happened before he left to Australia?"

"Even if I told you it wouldn't make a difference. If you want to know you should ask your brother," Aiden responded coldly.

"Aiden-chan let's do our best," Gou declared determination burning in her amber eyes.

Later that night after taking a couple of tiny orange pills, Aiden finished strength training and went to work on arranging the acoustic and electronic parts of her set. She was really putting her heart into the gig this time around. Not only were her friends going to be there, but she really needed to dump all the filth building up in her core. She wasn't sure if Rin would be at the event or not, she told herself it didn't matter she was putting her all into it regardless. She really wanted to put on a good show for her friends and for the crowd. She was oddly excited about it, like it would prove something to them. That and she loved a party. She hadn't done a job with someone she legitimately cared about standing in the crowd. Her friends didn't know this side of her so she was actually nervous about their reactions, if Gou's preview was any indicator of how the rest would react Aiden wasn't sure if she was ready to show off like that. She only hoped they would understand. If they really listened, they would.

As Aiden got deeper into building and composing she forgot her thoughts. She sank deeper and deeper into the abyss of melody with each note. After musing and arranging for a few hours she popped a couple of white pills, put things away and retired to her room. While she waited for the drowsiness to kick in she pulled out a couple of bathing suits. She hadn't worn most of them in half a year and she couldn't wait. She picked her black speedo kneeskin. She told herself she would make it a good week before crashing on her bed and messaging the silver-eyed boy until she faded into four hours of blackness.

* * *

Aiden stared into the mirror binding her breasts in the boy's locker room. She was the only girl so she would have to share the space with them until they got more female swimmers, which wasn't going to happen. The stingy school turned the girls locker room into storage space leaving her stuck with all the boys. Granted the boys did created a little space for her, they hung up curtains and everything, but it was still inconvenient. She had to be the first there and the first out. That is if she wanted to avoid an awkward conversation or Nagi's relentless teasing. From then up until she bought a new suit, found a magic sports bra or bulked up she would have to deal with her embarrassing ordeal. She didn't fit correctly into her suit, it was too loose in lots of areas and no longer compressed certain areas that desperately needed compression. She cursed her body, even though her breasts had shrunk, which she was eternally grateful for, it still wasn't nearly enough to significantly reduce drag, and she still had to resort to other measures. Worse, it meant she had lost more weight than she had initially thought. She groaned at the thought.

"Aiden-kun are you okay?!" a worried Makoto called out. Aiden growled in response. Thankfully she was finished. She put her suit back on and stormed out of her little area and straight out towards the pool. "Aiden-kun?" Makoto asked as she stormed right past him. Aiden ran and dove straight into the cool water again, having it cool her hot flustered body down.

Less than a second later Haru dove into the lane next to hers. They swam in sync for 100m making eye contact every couple of strokes. Aiden couldn't tell what the strange look in his eyes was. Something alike determination but not quite. She couldn't be sure. Did he look at everyone that way when he swam with them? Aiden finished her warm-up and pulled herself out of the pool to sit on the edge. She stared at the raven haired boy at the other end of the pool trying to deconstruct him.

Then it hit her. Those 100m were the first she had ever swam with Haru as his equal, as a teammate. The boy had been so cold to her for so long, always deliberately avoiding her or ignoring her, that now that he was speaking to her and acknowledging her existence she wasn't sure what to make of it. She too had grown cold towards him, she had gone from great admiration to indifference so perhaps that is why it wasn't so obvious that he was treating her like an equal, a teammate, and maybe even a friend? The realization gave her a renewed confidence and a boost of energy.

Aiden returned to the starting block taking a look around. She saw a brotherly animated Makoto lecturing Rei over the ins and outs of competitive swimming while a hyper Nagi constantly interjected. Rei looked like a scholarly attentive student listening to his instructors constantly pushing his red glasses up. Aiden giggled at that. At the other side of the pool Gou was knelt down talking to Haru, who barely had his head above the water. Ama-chan was napping under an umbrella off to the side. The scene gave the girl a sense of well-being. A gentle breeze brushed across her skin making her shiver and broke her out of her moment. She took up her place and dove into the chilly water with a smile on her face. All the doubt and frustration from before washed away. She was glad. She told herself she would to do her best. She wanted this. She not only wanted to do this for her friends, but this time she also wanted to do it for herself.

Soon Makoto and Nagisa joined them in the water. She had finished half of her regimen before the boys could finish their warm up. Aiden got out, no longer cold from the water but the breeze was still chilly and making her shiver. She bundled herself in a towel and watched Rei stretch. It was repulsive. She found herself looking away and inevitably being drawn back in by some sick fascination with his form. Or was it the speedo? Was that a penguin? She couldn't be sure what was drawing her in but it was off-putting. Thankfully that didn't last long because Nagi and Mako got out and questioned him. Rei, being the overconfident shit he was, decided he was more than ready to try swimming again. As he took his position on starting block five. Anticipation was high. Makoto and Nagi were amazed by his perfect form, Gou was gushing over biceps, and Haru and Aiden just had the same critical knowing look in their eyes. As Rei took the lunged Makoto and Nagi 'ahh'ed in unison. What followed was a pitiful belly flop with a sickening slap as he hit the water and a slowly sinking Rei. Everyone just smiled but Aiden fought back laughter. She quickly got back to work while the others took it upon themselves to teach the sinker how to swim.

* * *

Aiden was the first one ready to leave after practice, she had to use the locker room before the boys after all. She tied her hair back into a high ponytail and changed into casual clothing, black skinny jeans, a white tee, and a striped sleeveless cardigan and her black Nikes, underneath she concealed her running capris and tank top. She packed some music sheets, her phone and a water bottle into a drawstring sackpack and left her other things behind. Outside she could hear Nagisa reassuring Rei that the day wasn't a waste and at least he could float.

"Aw how sweet of you Nagi but he's definitely a sinker. I'm sure if he throws all those theories of his out, his head won't be so heavy anymore, and maybe, _MAYBE_ he'll be able to swim," Aiden said with a disgustingly sweet voice going up behind and startling them. Rei flushed and pushed up his glasses to hide his face.

"Aiden-chan you might have a point," Nagi said seriously before taking a good look at her, "Hey, Aiden-chan, looking good. Where are you going dressed like that?"

"Nowhere, just running errands," Aiden shrugged. Makoto, who had been hovering behind her, raised an eyebrow. He ushered the boys away to get changed. Aiden patiently waited outside with Gou while Ama-chan made a hasty exit.

"How was today?" Gou asked softly. Aiden looked towards her manager and smiled warmly.

"Better than expected. Thanks. I'm riding the train with you guys today, want to tell Nagi today?"

"You're telling him," Gou said poking Aiden. She nodded in return and they talked about how to modify the regimen for the boys until they agreed on a regimen and schedule. When the boys were done they left together as a group until they split into two at the train station.

"Aiden-chan you're taking the train?" Makoto asked when she went with Nagi's group.

"Running errands before I go home, I'll send you a message," Aiden said giving him a quick hug and walking away, she wanted to keep the song a secret for the moment. Why ruin the surprise? Makoto just looked at her as she walked away and thought, she is the only one that can get away with doing that with him. She is the only one who can waved him off so casually and effectively. He was usually good at controlling situations and people. If it was anyone else he wouldn't give in so easily. Haru placed a hand on Makoto's shoulder to steer him home, but blue eyes never left the girl's back until she was out of sight.

* * *

Pat. Pat. Pat. Pat.

_Given the condition he's in my victory means nothing. It doesn't count as a win. _Rin thought as he ran down a path between two lots. _That means my race with Aiden didn't mean anything either. _

Pat. Pat. Pat. Pat.

"_Every second here makes my heart beat faster, Finally think I found what I'm chasing after" It's simple enough. "Take me home, where my dreams are made of gold" "Come on make me feel alive" He should get it. It's catchy. Why am I stressing? _Aiden thought, reviewing the song she had just practiced with Kaito for two hours in a great mood as she ran down an unfamiliar sidewalk about to turn left on a path as a shortcut.

Rin came to the end of the path and turned a corner straight into another person. "Fuck!"

"Ow, fuck," Aiden said holding her forehead. They collided as they were both turning the corner. It took a moment to register his voice, "Rin?! It would be…."

"Ai?!" Rin said gruffly rubbing his chin, "Shit. What are you doing here?" He did not want to see her. Especially not at that moment with all that stuff going through his head. After he left her house the other night he had constantly been going back and forth over what to do about her. He had yet to come to a conclusion, and he wouldn't be able to especially not with failure staring him in the face.

"Ugh, running what does it look like I'm doing?" she responded sharply still rubbing her forehead. _No fucking kidding I'm going to end up with brain damage one of these days. Why does it always have to be my head?_

"Smartass, you know what I mean." Aiden was in a great mood, music still playing in her head like an mp3 player and she could see that Rin was clearly not in the best mental state but wasn't going to let it bring her down.

"I had a date with a teammate of yours at Samezuka. I'm running home, I run every night so I'm taking advantage of the distance. Satisfied?" She said the first thing that came to mind but a moment after the word 'date' came out of her mouth she saw Rin's cool demeanor falter and she curse herself for not thinking of a better excuse. Was it the bump on the head that compelled her to choose that lame excuse?

Rin froze mentally at the word 'date' and he had to try to suppress his reaction. Who was it? He probably knew the guy. The thought of another guy laying a hand her ignited a flame in him but he wasn't supposed to feel like that. He told himself he couldn't feel like that. That wasn't his business, she wasn't his business, and she could do whatever she wanted. Why did he care? He didn't. He didn't care. He told himself these things but it looked like he was fighting a losing battle.

"You shouldn't be out this late by yourself," Rin scolded changing the subject and getting closer to her. Aiden smirked until it turned into a genuine smile. Rin cocked his head in confusion.

"_[Imma do what I want, whatever, Imma rage til the dawn, all-nighter]" _Aiden half sang the lyrics that were stuck in her head as a response defiantly, mischievous smirk plastered on her face, "I do this all the time."

"What?" Rin stated more than asked. Aiden closed the distance between them bringing her face uncomfortably close to Rin's giving him a dose of his own medicine. "See you, I wouldn't want to _distract _you," she said with a smile before poking him in the nose and swiftly running away. Leaving behind a very confused and very flustered Rin. "Brat," he muttered under his breath before going the in the opposite direction. In his pocket he held the bracelet once more. His previous thoughts temporarily forgotten replace with the image of that smile and the feel of her warmth. He bit his tongue in vain, trying to snap out of it.

* * *

Watching Rei sink to the bottom of the pool was painful. Painfully hilarious in Aiden's case but she kept her composure after a stern look from Makoto. Nagisa tried to teach Rei the breaststroke and failed miserably. Not so unexpectedly. The kid's form was perfect but it didn't make a difference. The water didn't care about form, the water didn't work that way. It's calm, flowing and raging, and unpredictable. It can't be measured and calculated. It isn't something that can be conquered solely on theories and calculations. It's something that has to come from instinct, from feeling, at least for Aiden that's how it was at first. She was sure many of her peers could agree. She directed her gaze to Haru who was swimming laps with the other boys.

Gou and Aiden had revamped the training regimen for the team though Gou had done the bulk of the work. She was a good manager, and Aiden admired that. The boys were three-quarters through their first day of training. Aiden was already finished for the day and dressed. She carefully studied Makoto during his last run, 2x400m backstroke. She could always learn a thing or two from watching him. At her school she was the best backstroke swimmer, there were only three, so she didn't have a lot people to learn from. Only it was painfully obvious that they all had to work on their stamina, herself included. She could tell Makoto was growing tired at the end of his run into the cool down. She smiled to herself. Every time he took a breath he made such an adorable face, like a hyper-focused little ten-year old, just like the one she remembered.

When Makoto finished his workout Aiden held a hand out to him to help him out of the pool and handed him a towel. "That was good start," she commented. Makoto was catching his breath and drying off, "Feels good," he said breathlessly with his signature smile. She returned it.

"Oi! Aiden-chan!" called a tall boy from the stairs at the entrance. Makoto and Aiden quickly whipped back to see who it was.

"Kaito-san?! What are you doing here?" Aiden asked slightly panicked. As she approached him Makoto stayed on her tail.

"Hey Aiden-chan. Captain," Kaito greeted them with a cheeky smile, "I came to pick you up and scope out my competition."

Makoto finally registered the Samezuka sweater, "Hi, it's Tachibana Makoto, you are?" Makoto said with a smile on his face that for once was less than genuine.

"This is Miyazaki Kaito, he's on the swim team at Samezuka, he's a friend," Aiden answered for him, Kaito grinned at the word 'friend'. "Kaito-san you didn't have to come pick me up, we aren't even finished yet."

"That's fine, I'll just hang out," he said making himself comfortable on a bench. "Okay…." Aiden said turning to Makoto, "Sorry, I didn't know he was going to stop by, is it okay if I go now?" she asked apologetically with an innocent look on her face that Makoto could never refuse. As uncomfortable as he was with letting her run off with some stranger it wasn't his place to hold her back.

"Go ahead, call me," he said sounding tired. Aiden smiled big, and abruptly wrapped her arms around him not caring that she was getting her clothes wet. Makoto's eyes widened for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her and patted her head. Aiden breathed in his familiar scent and purred as she often did these days and Makoto blushed slightly. "You give the best hugs, you're my favorite," she said into his bare chest. Makoto held her tighter. "And you're mine," he said with hidden meaning. Blue and silver watched the oblivious couple from the sidelines. The parted and Aiden flicked his nose before running off, reminding herself of a certain redhead.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Let's go maestro," Kaito answered letting her lead the way. Makoto and Haru watched her disappear with that stranger. Haru recognized him the moment he saw him, "That's him," he said to Makoto, "That's the guy from before." Makoto looked to his friend and understood, what he didn't understand for the first time was what Haru's expression was saying at that moment. It was something he had rarely seen on him before. _Aggression? Why?_

* * *

**_A/N:_** This chapter was driving me nuts. What did you think? Any suggestions?**_ Leave a review_** pretty please :)  
-LYRICS BY **KREWELLA** from the songs _Alive_ and_ Live for the Night_  
-Rin's role in this story is drastically changing from what I originally planned, I'm not sure how that happened.  
-And Aiden with these pills, I guess I'll explain, the little orange things are uppers and the white ones are downers. I mentioned before she isn't totally stable, which is why she isn't getting completely lifted off of these meds, they function as meds to a certain extent with her. But what she's doing is unethical basically cheating, I'll address that later.

-Anyone want a preview of chapter nine?

Note-Rage On by Oldcodex is hands down the best 'speeding down the freeway/winding road with the windows down' song. Yep.


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